For long-duration space missions, it is critical to maintain health-associated homeostasis between astronauts and their microbiome. To achieve this goal it is important to more fully understand the host–symbiont relationship under the physiological stress conditions of spaceflight. To address this issue we examined the impact of a spaceflight analog, low-shear-modeled microgravity (LSMMG), on the transcriptome of the mutualistic bacterium
This content will become publicly available on November 1, 2024
Analysis of Growth Characteristics and Differentially Expressed Homologous Genes in Rhodobacter sphaeroides under Normal and Simulated Microgravity Conditions
The term “microgravity” is used to describe the “weightlessness” or “zero-g” circumstances that can only be found in space beyond earth’s atmosphere. Rhodobacter sphaeroides is a gram-negative purple phototroph, used as a model organism for this study due to its genomic complexity and metabolic versatility. Its genome has been completely sequenced, and profiles of the differential gene expression under aerobic, semi-aerobic, and photosynthetic conditions were examined. In this study, we hypothesized that R. sphaeroides will show altered growth characteristics, morphological properties, and gene expression patterns when grown under simulated microgravity. To test that, we measured the optical density and colony-forming units of cell cultures grown under both microgravity and normal gravity conditions. Differences in the cell morphology were observed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images by measuring the length and the surface area of the cells under both conditions. Furthermore, we also identified homologous genes of R. spheroides using the differential gene expression study of Acidovorax under microgravity in our laboratory. Growth kinetics results showed that R. sphaeroides cells grown under microgravity experience a shorter log phase and early stationary phase compared to the cells growing under normal gravity conditions. The length and surface area of the cells under microgravity were significantly higher confirming that bacterial cells experience altered morphological features when grown under microgravity conditions. Differentially expressed homologous gene analysis indicated that genes coding for several COG and GO functions, such as metabolism, signal-transduction, transcription, translation, chemotaxis, and cell motility are differentially expressed to adapt and survive microgravity.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2050232
- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10492002
- Publisher / Repository:
- Scientific Research Publishing
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advances in Microbiology
- Volume:
- 13
- Issue:
- 11
- ISSN:
- 2165-3402
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 539 to 558
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- ["Simulated Microgravity, Differential Gene Expression, Bacteria, Gene Homology, Space Exploration"]
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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