ReviewCommunications biology2025
The role of extremophile microbiomes in terraforming Mars.
Review in Communications biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Archaea-driven bioremediation of polyolefins and polyesters in extreme environments.Biodesign research · 2026Review
- Extreme Biomimetics: Achievements and Fundamental Challenges for the Future.Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Fungal-Mineral Interaction: Astrobiology Insights from Iron-Rich Mineral Alteration by an Extremophile Black Fungus.JACS Au · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Terraforming Mars toward sustainable life-supporting ecosystems poses unprecedented challenges. Extremophilic microbes, which thrive in Earth's most extreme environments, offer promising biological strategies for initial Mars colonization providing tools for resource mobilization and atmospheric engineering. This review synthesizes experimental evidence on microbial survival Mars-simulated conditions, highlights the ecological roles of extremophilic microbial consortia in biogeochemical cycling. We further discuss cutting-edge synthetic biology approaches to enhance microbial resilience. Yet, we emphasize the need to shift focus from single-species assessments to complex, synergistically interacting microbial communities, which may hold the key to establishing self-sustaining extraterrestrial biospheres. Finally, we consider planetary protection, ethical concerns, and future research priorities to responsibly perform Mars terraforming.
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Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.