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Characterization of Epigenetic Regulation in an Extraterrestrial Environment: The Arabidopsis Spaceflight Methylome [RNA-seq]

ABSTRACT: When germinated and grown on-board the ISS (International Space Station), plant do not exhibit abnormal structures but they do have altered growth habits and this project aims to investigate the molecular mechanisms that provide the foundation for the altered growth habits observed in orbit. APEX03-2 (Advanced Plant Experiment 03-2), also known as TAGES-ISA (Transgenic Arabidopsis Gene Expression System-Intracellular Signaling Architecture) specifically addresses the growth and molecular changes that occur in Arabidopsis thaliana plants during spaceflight by using molecular and genetic tools, and by asking fundamental questions regarding root structure, growth and cell wall remodeling may be answered. This investigation advances the fundamental understanding of the molecular biological responses to extraterrestrial environments. This understanding helps to further define the impacts of spaceflight on biological systems to better enable NASA’s future space exploration goals. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/1059.html

ORGANISM(S): Arabidopsis thaliana

PROVIDER: GSE95586 | GEO | 2019/03/20

REPOSITORIES: GEO

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Project description:Experimentation on the International Space Station has reached the stage where repeated and nuanced transcriptome studies are beginning to illuminate the structural and metabolic differences between plants grown in space compared to plants on the Earth. Genes that are important in setting up the spaceflight responses are being identified; their role in spaceflight physiological adaptation are increasingly understood, and the fact that different genotypes adapt differently is recognized. However, the basic question of whether these spaceflight responses are required for survival has yet to be posed, and the fundamental notion that spaceflight responses may be non-adaptive has yet to be explored. Therefore the experiments presented here were designed to ask if portions of the plant spaceflight response can be genetically removed without causing loss of spaceflight survival and without causing increased stress responses. The CARA experiment compared the spaceflight transcriptome responses of two Arabidopsis ecotypes, Col-0 and WS, as well as that of a PhyD mutant of Col-0. When grown with the ambient light of the ISS, phyD displayed a significantly reduced spaceflight transcriptome response compared to Col-0, suggesting that altering the activity of a single gene can actually improve spaceflight adaptation by reducing the transcriptome cost of physiological adaptation. The WS genotype showed and even simpler spaceflight transcriptome response in the ambient light of the ISS, more broadly indicating that the plant genotype can be manipulated to reduce the transcriptome cost of plant physiological adaptation to spaceflight and suggesting that genetic manipulation might further reduce, or perhaps eliminate the metabolic cost of spaceflight adaptation. When plants were germinated and then left in the dark on the ISS, the WS genotype actually mounted a larger transcriptome response than Col-0, suggesting that the in-space light environment affects physiological adaptation, which further implies that manipulating the local habitat can also substantially impact the metabolic cost of spaceflight adaptation.

Project description:Spaceflight triggers molecular signal of apoptosis and inhibits cell migration to impede bone fracture repair in male mice Activated apoptosis and inhibited cell migration. Adverse impacts of spaceflight on musculoskeletal health increases the risk of bone fracture and impaired healing. Its yet elusive molecular comprehension warrants an immediate attention in the advent of increasingly frequent space travels. Here we examined the effect of spaceflight on bone healing using a 2mm femoral segmental bone defect (SBD) model. Forty, 9-week old, C57BL/6J male mice were randomized by cage into spaceflight or ground groups; 10 mice from spaceflight or ground groups, respectively underwent SBD surgery and rest served as unoperated sham controls. Surgery/sham procedures occurred 4 days prior to launch, thereafter the spaceflight mice were housed in the rodent habitat at International Space Station for around 4 weeks before their euthanasia. Feeding on same diet, the ground sham/surgery mice were in equivalent housing condition. The right leg femur from half of the spaceflight and ground groups were investigated by micro-computed tomography (µCT). In parallel, the callus regions from surgery groups and corresponding femoral segments in sham mice were probed by global transcriptomics and metabolomics assay. µCT confirmed escalated bone loss in sham spaceflight; and a concomitant trend towards habituation was highlighted by gene-metabolite networks linked to active cellular homeostasis and inhibited morbidity signal in sham spaceflight. The morbidity signal was switched in the spaceflight surgery mice and µCT analyses of spaceflight callus revealed an increased trabeculae spacing and decreased trabecular connectivity. Activated apoptotic signal in spaceflight callus was synchronized with inhibited cell migration signal that was critical for wounds to recruit growth factors, cytokines, and angiogenic agents. A major pro-apoptotic and anti-migration signal, namely RANK-NFκB axis emerged as the central node in spaceflight callus. Concluding, SBD in spaceflight triggered a unique biomolecular mechanism to meet failed regeneration, which merits a customized intervention strategy.

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Characterization of Epigenetic Regulation in an Extraterrestrial Environment: The Arabidopsis Spaceflight Methylome [RNA-seq]

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