The CRYPTOMARS project: a multi-omic approach for studying Antarctic cryptoendolithic communities as Martian-analog life-forms

If life ever existed on Mars, it may have developed survival strategies similar to those adopted by extremophiles living in terrestrial Martian analogs, such as the cryptoendolithic communities found in the rocky substrates of the McMurdo Dry Valleys or other ice-free areas of continental Antarctica. Nearly thirty years of research on these super-adapted organisms laid the foundation for the CRYPTOMARS project, which aims to disclose the genomic and phenotypic features allowing these microbial communities to withstand specific physico-chemical stresses that may be encountered on the Red Planet. This information will provide tools to outline, in terms of diversity and competences, a putative microbial community able to survive, adapt or even perpetuate under early or present Martian conditions. The project and the background information are here presented.