Spaceflight alters host-gut microbiota interactions
The ISS rodent habitat has provided crucial insights into the impact of spaceflight on mammals, inducing symptoms characteristic of liver disease, insulin resistance, osteopenia, and myopathy. Although these physiological responses can involve the microbiome on Earth, host-microbiota interactions during spaceflight are still being elucidated. We explore murine gut microbiota and host gene expression in the colon and liver after 29 and 56 days of spaceflight using multiomics. Metagenomics revealed significant changes in 44 microbiome species, including relative reductions in bile acid and butyrate metabolising bacteria like Extibacter muris and Dysosmobacter welbionis. Functional prediction indicate over-representation of fatty acid and bile acid metabolism, extracellular matrix interactions, and antibiotic resistance genes. Host gene expression described corresponding changes to bile acid and energy metabolism, and immune suppression. These changes imply that interactions at the host-gut microbiome interface contribute to spaceflight pathology and that these interactions might critically influence human health and long-duration spaceflight feasibility.
Authors
- Nitin K. Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5344-1190)
- Julia M. Kelliher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4100-9119)
- Rick J. Jansen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5683-2584)
- Braden Tierney (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7533-8802)
- Michael Lee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7750-9145)
- Stefan J. Green (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2781-359X)
- Fathi Karouia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1142-9684)
- M. Mishra
- Pamela Flores (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4878-9429)
- Alexei V. Finkelstein (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2138-4803)
- Laura Beckett (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9602-6154)
- Silvio Weging (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8484-4352)
- Daniela Bezdan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1203-8239)
- Nicholas J. B. Brereton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2434-3249)
- Natalie Lipieta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-9984-2597)
- Emmanuel González (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5567-2125)
- J. Galazska
- Angela Mo
- Richard D. Barker
- Patti Walton
Institutions
- University College Dublin (IE)
- Broad Institute (US)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- Rush University Medical Center (US)
- Occupational Safety & Health Administration (US)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- University of Wisconsin–Madison (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Baylor College of Medicine (US)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Cornell University (US)
- McGill University Health Centre (CA)
- MEI Research (United States) (US)
- Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience Tübingen (DE)
- Blue Marble Space (US)
- Blue Marble Space Institute of Science (US)
- Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
- McGill University (CA)
- New York University (US)
- North Dakota State University (US)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology (US)
- Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (DE)
- University of Tübingen (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Biofilms and Microbiomes
- Published
- 2024-08-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41522-024-00545-1
- Citations
- 20
- Primary Topic
- Spaceflight effects on biology
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 6.53
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- University College Dublin
- Science Mission Directorate
- Biological and Physical Sciences Division