Assessment of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Survival Upon Exposure to Transient High Pressure and Temperature in a High-Intensity Shock Tube for Astrobiology (HISTA).

Understanding microbial survival under extreme planetary conditions is critical for astrobiology and stress biology. Several experimental platforms, including radiation, desiccation, and microgravity, have been used to mimic extraterrestrial environments; however, controlled simulation of high-intensity shock waves has not been used to assess microbial survival. Here, we describe a detailed protocol for shock processing of Saccharomyces cerevisiae using the high-intensity shock tube for astrochemistry (HISTA), which generates high-Mach-number shock waves under inert gas conditions. Yeast cells are drop-casted onto a metal flange, exposed to transient high-pressure shock waves, and recovered for downstream survival and cellular analyses. Shock intensity can be precisely tuned by adjusting driver pressure, diaphragm thickness, and driven gas pressure. This protocol provides a platform to investigate microbial adaptation to shock waves. Key features • Recreates impact-like shock events under controlled laboratory conditions. • Compatible for performing post-shock analysis through growth assay, fluorescence imaging, and transcriptomic analysis. • Shock intensity can be adjusted by modifying operational parameters of the shock tube.