Effects of spaceflight and simulated microgravity on microbial growth and secondary metabolism

Huang, Bing; Li, Diangeng; Huang, Ying; Liu, Changting

doi:10.1186/s40779-018-0162-9

Cited by 87 publications

(100 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…Our findings show that clinostat rotation results in higher levels of organic acid accumulation and lower levels of metabolite transport from cells to the medium. This finding, together with that reported by Huang and colleagues (28), suggests that clinostat rotation has a significant impact on the metabolism of microorganisms. Moreover, the pathway analysis revealed that clinostat rotation mainly affected amino acid metabolism and the energy-related metabolic pathways of A. carbonarius.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

“…This finding illustrates that clinostat rotation affects the transport of these metabolites from the cell into the medium and is consistent with results reported by Brown (39), who found that clinostat rotation alters transport phenomena in the cell's external fluid environment. It is also widely accepted that the adaptive response of cells to the changing microenvironment, including the extracellular nutrient distribution and the transport of metabolites by fluid dynamics, is an important pathway for the response of microorganisms to microgravity (28). Huang et al (28) reported that the extracellular microenvironment affects the secretion and transport of secondary metabolites.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is also widely accepted that the adaptive response of cells to the changing microenvironment, including the extracellular nutrient distribution and the transport of metabolites by fluid dynamics, is an important pathway for the response of microorganisms to microgravity (28). Huang et al (28) reported that the extracellular microenvironment affects the secretion and transport of secondary metabolites. It was supposed that fluid dynamics might be a major factor responsible for the effects of simulated microgravity on microbial cells in suspension cultures.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It was supposed that fluid dynamics might be a major factor responsible for the effects of simulated microgravity on microbial cells in suspension cultures. However, in solid cultures, the gas dynamics in the cultivating vessel may be the major factor influencing the effects of simulated microgravity on microbial cells (28). These various extracellular stress signals induce or promote secondary metabolism in a variety of microbes, and the extracellular stressors are transferred to downstream responsive genes by a cascade of complex signal transduction steps (28).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinostat Rotation Affects Metabolite Transportation and Increases Organic Acid Production by Aspergillus carbonarius , as Revealed by Differential Metabolomic Analysis

Jiang

Guo

et al. 2019

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Contamination by fungi may pose a threat to the long-term operation of the International Space Station because fungi produce organic acids that corrode equipment and mycotoxins that harm human health. Microgravity is an unavoidable and special condition in the space station. However, the influence of microgravity on fungal metabolism has not been well studied. Clinostat rotation is widely used to simulate the microgravity condition in studies carried out on Earth. Here, we used metabolomics differential analysis to study the influence of clinostat rotation on the accumulation of organic acids and related biosynthetic pathways in ochratoxin A (OTA)-producing Aspergillus carbonarius. As a result, clinostat rotation did not affect fungal cell growth or colony appearance but significantly increased the accumulation of organic acids, particularly isocitric acid, citric acid, and oxalic acid, and OTA both inside cells and in the medium, as well as resulted in a much higher level of accumulation of some products inside than outside cells, indicating that the transport of these metabolites from the cell to the medium was inhibited. This finding corresponded to the change in the fatty acid composition of cell membranes and the reduced thickness of the cell walls and cell membranes. Amino acid and energy metabolic pathways, particularly the tricarboxylic acid cycle, were influenced the most during clinostat rotation compared to the effects of normal gravity on these pathways. IMPORTANCE Fungi are ubiquitous in nature and have the ability to corrode various materials by producing metabolites. Research on how the space station environment, especially microgravity, affects fungal metabolism is helpful to understand the role of fungi in the space station. This work provides insights into the mechanisms involved in the metabolism of the corrosive fungus Aspergillus carbonarius under simulated microgravity conditions. Our findings have significance not only for preventing material corrosion but also for ensuring food safety, especially in the space environment.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 77%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Clinostat Rotation Affects Metabolite Transportation and Increases Organic Acid Production by Aspergillus carbonarius , as Revealed by Differential Metabolomic Analysis

Jiang

Guo

et al. 2019

Appl Environ Microbiol

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“…The microgravity conditions provide conflicting results on microbial growth and virulence of opportunistic human pathogens (Morrison et al, 2017;, while the analysis of archival samples generates a detrimental time gap for a flight-supportive result interpretation (Huang et al, 2018;Novikova et al, 2006). HPC was proved to be also affected by carbon sources in cultivation media, the incubation time, and the initial microbial load level (Amalfitano et al, 2018b).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

Amalfitano¹,

Levantesi²,

Copetti³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Space exploration is demanding longer lasting human missions and water resupply from Earth will become increasingly unrealistic. In a near future, the spacecraft water monitoring systems will require technological advances to promptly identify and counteract contingent events of waterborne microbial contamination, posing health risks to astronauts with lowered immune responsiveness. The search for bio-analytical approaches, alternative to those applied on Earth by cultivation-dependent methods, is pushed by the compelling need to limit waste disposal and avoid microbial regrowth from analytical carryovers. Prospective technologies will be selected only if first validated in a flight-like environment, by following basic principles, advantages, and limitations beyond their current applications on Earth. Starting from the water monitoring activities applied on the International Space Station, we provide a critical overview of the nucleic acid amplification-based approaches (i.e., loop-mediated isothermal amplification, quantitative PCR, and high-throughput sequencing) and early-warning methods for total microbial load assessments (i.e., ATP-metry, flow cytometry), already used at a high readiness level aboard crewed space vehicles. Our findings suggest that the forthcoming space applications of mature technologies will be necessarily bounded by a compromise between analytical performances (e.g., speed to results, identification depth, reproducibility, multiparametricity) and detrimental technical requirements (e.g., reagent usage, waste production, operator skills, crew time). As space exploration progresses toward extended missions to Moon and Mars, miniaturized systems that also minimize crew involvement in their end-to-end operation are likely applicable on the long-term and suitable for the in-flight water and microbiological research.

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Biomanufacturing of 3D Tissue Constructs in Microgravity and their Applications in Human Pathophysiological Studies

Ren,

Harriot,

Mair

et al. 2023

Adv Healthcare Materials

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The growing interest in bioengineering in‐vivo‐like 3D functional tissues has led to novel approaches to the biomanufacturing process as well as expanded applications for these unique tissue constructs. Microgravity, as seen in spaceflight, is a unique environment that may be beneficial to the tissue‐engineering process but cannot be completely replicated on Earth. Additionally, the expense and practical challenges of conducting human and animal research in space make bioengineered microphysiological systems an attractive research model. In this review, published research that exploits real and simulated microgravity to improve the biomanufacturing of a wide range of tissue types as well as those studies that use microphysiological systems, such as organ/tissue chips and multicellular organoids, for modeling human diseases in space are summarized. This review discusses real and simulated microgravity platforms and applications in tissue‐engineered microphysiological systems across three topics: 1) application of microgravity to improve the biomanufacturing of tissue constructs, 2) use of tissue constructs fabricated in microgravity as models for human diseases on Earth, and 3) investigating the effects of microgravity on human tissues using biofabricated in vitro models. These current achievements represent important progress in understanding the physiological effects of microgravity and exploiting their advantages for tissue biomanufacturing.

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Effects of spaceflight and simulated microgravity on microbial growth and secondary metabolism

Cited by 87 publications

References 97 publications

Clinostat Rotation Affects Metabolite Transportation and Increases Organic Acid Production by Aspergillus carbonarius , as Revealed by Differential Metabolomic Analysis

Clinostat Rotation Affects Metabolite Transportation and Increases Organic Acid Production by Aspergillus carbonarius , as Revealed by Differential Metabolomic Analysis

Water and Microbial Monitoring Technologies towards the Near Future Space Exploration

Biomanufacturing of 3D Tissue Constructs in Microgravity and their Applications in Human Pathophysiological Studies

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