Discovery of novel bacterial strains aboard the International Space Station (ISS) suggests the possibility of astronauts growing their own vegetables while in space, says a new study by researchers  based at University of Hyderabad (UoH) and NASA‘s Jet Propulsion Laboratory(JPL), among other institutions. The new bacterial strains discovered from different locations aboard the ISS flights may help in creating the “fuel” to help plants withstand such stressful situations. The findings of the study were published in a recent issue of the journal Frontiers in Microbiology The research teams were led by Dr. Kasthuri Venkateswaran of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, C.C. Wang of WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction, Professor Appa Rao Podile from the University of Hyderabad (UoH) with expertise on plant growth promoting bacteria and plant microbiome and Dr. Ramprasad, a CSIR-pool Scientist. The bacterial strains belonging to the family Methylobacteriaceae were isolated from different locations aboard the ISS across two consecutive flights.