Recent transcriptomic studies to elucidate the plant adaptive response to spaceflight and to simulated space environments

Manzano, Aránzazu; Carnero-Díaz, Eugénie; Herranz, Raúl; Medina, F. Javier

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2022.104687

Cited by 18 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In many biological systems, responses in gene expression have been shown to be episodic and wave-like, not linear over the time-course of the stimulus, especially for stimuli related to environmental components that are outside of life evolutionary history, such as space ight 1,10,11,19,30 . Moreover, some episodic gene expression patterns change rapidly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Ferl,

Zhou,

Strickland

et al. 2023

Preprint

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The Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission conducted the first astronaut-manipulated suborbital spaceflight experiment. The experiment examined the operationalization of Kennedy Space Center Fixation Tubes (KFTs) as a generalizable approach to preserving biology at various phases of suborbital flight. The biology chosen for this experiment was Arabidopsis thaliana, ecotype Col-0, because of the plant’s history of spaceflight experimentation within KFTs and wealth of comparative data from orbital experiments. KFTs were deployed as a wearable device, a leg pouch attached to the astronaut, which proved to be operationally effective during the course of the flight. Data from the inflight samples indicated that the microgravity period of the flight elicited the strongest transcriptomic responses as measured by the number of genes showing differential expression. Genes related to reactive oxygen species and stress, as well as genes associated with orbital spaceflight, were highly represented among the suborbital gene expression profile. In addition, gene families largely unaffected in orbital spaceflight were diversely regulated in suborbital flight, including stress-responsive transcription factors. The human-tended suborbital experiment demonstrated the operational effectiveness of the KFTs in suborbital flight and suggests that rapid transcriptomic responses are a part of the temporal dynamics at the beginning of physiological adaptation to spaceflight.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of the operationalization of KFTs for suborbital science, the report details transcriptomic responses of plants to different phases of the ight pro le. Plants have evolved complex responsive signaling in adaptation to environmental dynamic, including the adaptation to extended space ight [5][6][7][8][9][10][11] .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Ferl,

Zhou,

Strickland

et al. 2023

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In many biological systems, responses in gene expression have been shown to be episodic and wave-like, not linear over the time-course of the stimulus, especially for stimuli related to environmental components that are outside of life evolutionary history, such as spaceflight 1 , 10 , 11 , 19 , 30 . Moreover, some episodic gene expression patterns change rapidly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a result of the operationalization of KFTs for suborbital science, the report details transcriptomic responses of plants to different phases of the flight profile. Plants have evolved complex responsive signaling in adaptation to environmental dynamic, including the adaptation to extended spaceflight 5 – 11 . Biological research on plants grown in spaceflight-associated environments is critical to long-term human space missions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Ferl,

Zhou,

Strickland

et al. 2023

npj Microgravity

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The Virgin Galactic Unity 22 mission conducted the first astronaut-manipulated suborbital spaceflight experiment. The experiment examined the operationalization of Kennedy Space Center Fixation Tubes (KFTs) as a generalizable approach to preserving biology at various phases of suborbital flight. The biology chosen for this experiment was Arabidopsis thaliana, ecotype Col-0, because of the plant history of spaceflight experimentation within KFTs and wealth of comparative data from orbital experiments. KFTs were deployed as a wearable device, a leg pouch attached to the astronaut, which proved to be operationally effective during the course of the flight. Data from the inflight samples indicated that the microgravity period of the flight elicited the strongest transcriptomic responses as measured by the number of genes showing differential expression. Genes related to reactive oxygen species and stress, as well as genes associated with orbital spaceflight, were highly represented among the suborbital gene expression profile. In addition, gene families largely unaffected in orbital spaceflight were diversely regulated in suborbital flight, including stress-responsive transcription factors. The human-tended suborbital experiment demonstrated the operational effectiveness of the KFTs in suborbital flight and suggests that rapid transcriptomic responses are a part of the temporal dynamics at the beginning of physiological adaptation to spaceflight.

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“…Major improvements in culture facilities have allowed us to conclude that microgravity itself does not prevent plant growth and reproduction. In fact, the use of newly implemented research facilities on the ISS led to impressive progress in plant biology research in space over the last two decades [ 13 , 23 ]. However, the number of pending unresolved questions is enormous and the difficulties and constraints of spaceflight research still represent major obstacles.…”

Section: Altered Gravity/microgravity Disturbs Plant Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Red Light Enhances Plant Adaptation to Spaceflight and Mars g-Levels

Medina

Manzano

Herranz

et al. 2022

Life

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Understanding how plants respond and adapt to extraterrestrial conditions is essential for space exploration initiatives. Deleterious effects of the space environment on plant development have been reported, such as the unbalance of cell growth and proliferation in the root meristem, or gene expression reprogramming. However, plants are capable of surviving and completing the seed-to-seed life cycle under microgravity. A key research challenge is to identify environmental cues, such as light, which could compensate the negative effects of microgravity. Understanding the crosstalk between light and gravity sensing in space was the major objective of the NASA-ESA Seedling Growth series of spaceflight experiments (2013–2018). Different g-levels were used, with special attention to micro-g, Mars-g, and Earth-g. In spaceflight seedlings illuminated for 4 days with a white light photoperiod and then photostimulated with red light for 2 days, transcriptomic studies showed, first, that red light partially reverted the gene reprogramming induced by microgravity, and that the combination of microgravity and photoactivation was not recognized by seedlings as stressful. Two mutant lines of the nucleolar protein nucleolin exhibited differential requirements in response to red light photoactivation. This observation opens the way to directed-mutagenesis strategies in crop design to be used in space colonization. Further transcriptomic studies at different g-levels showed elevated plastid and mitochondrial genome expression in microgravity, associated with disturbed nucleus–organelle communication, and the upregulation of genes encoding auxin and cytokinin hormonal pathways. At the Mars g-level, genes of hormone pathways related to stress response were activated, together with some transcription factors specifically related to acclimation, suggesting that seedlings grown in partial-g are able to acclimate by modulating genome expression in routes related to space-environment-associated stress.

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Recent transcriptomic studies to elucidate the plant adaptive response to spaceflight and to simulated space environments

Cited by 18 publications

References 53 publications

Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Transcriptomic dynamics in the transition from ground to space are revealed by Virgin Galactic human-tended suborbital spaceflight

Red Light Enhances Plant Adaptation to Spaceflight and Mars g-Levels

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