Spaceflight alters host-gut microbiota interactions

E Gonzalez; M D Lee; B T Tierney; N Lipieta; P Flores; M Mishra; L Beckett; A Finkelstein; A Mo; P Walton; F Karouia; R Barker; R J Jansen; S J Green; S Weging; J Kelliher; N K Singh; D Bezdan; J Galazska; N J B Brereton

doi:10.1038/s41522-024-00545-1

Spaceflight alters host-gut microbiota interactions

NPJ Biofilms Microbiomes. 2024 Aug 29;10(1):71. doi: 10.1038/s41522-024-00545-1.

Authors

E Gonzalez^{1

2}, M D Lee^{3

4}, B T Tierney^{5

6}, N Lipieta⁷, P Flores⁸, M Mishra⁹, L Beckett¹⁰, A Finkelstein¹¹, A Mo¹¹, P Walton¹¹, F Karouia^{3

4

12}, R Barker^{4

13

14}, R J Jansen^{15

16}, S J Green¹⁷, S Weging¹⁸, J Kelliher¹⁹, N K Singh²⁰, D Bezdan^{14

21

22}, J Galazska²³, N J B Brereton²⁴

Affiliations

¹ Microbiome Unit, Canadian Centre for Computational Genomics, Department of Human Genetics, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
² Centre for Microbiome Research, McGill University, Montréal, Canada.
³ Exobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Centre, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
⁴ Blue Marble Space Institute of Science, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁵ Department of Physiology and Biophysics, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY, USA.
⁶ Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
⁷ Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, Cambridge, MA, 02142, USA.
⁸ BioServe Space Technologies, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA.
⁹ Grossman School of Medicine, New York University, New York, USA.
¹⁰ University of Nottingham, Nottingham, NG7 2RD, UK.
¹¹ NASA GeneLab for High Schools (GL4HS) program, NASA Ames Research Centre, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
¹² Centre for Space Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX, USA.
¹³ Yuri GmbH, Wiesentalstr. 40, 88074, Meckenbeuren, Germany.
¹⁴ University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Public Health, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA.
¹⁶ Genomics, Phenomics, and Bioinformatics Program, North Dakota State University, Fargo, ND, USA.
¹⁷ Genomics and Microbiome Core Facility, Rush University Medical Centre, 1653 W. Congress Parkway, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA.
¹⁸ Institute of Computer Science, Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
¹⁹ Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, USA.
²⁰ Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Oakland, USA.
²¹ Institute of Medical Genetics and Applied Genomics, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
²² NGS Competence Centre Tübingen (NCCT), University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
²³ Space Biosciences Research Branch, NASA Ames Research Centre, Moffett Field, CA, USA.
²⁴ School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland. nicholas.brereton@ucd.ie.

Abstract

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.

MeSH terms

Animals
Bacteria* / classification
Bacteria* / genetics
Bile Acids and Salts / metabolism
Colon / microbiology
Energy Metabolism
Gastrointestinal Microbiome*
Host Microbial Interactions
Humans
Liver / microbiology
Male
Metagenomics / methods
Mice
Mice, Inbred C57BL
Space Flight*

Substances

Bile Acids and Salts