Menu 
  • Home
  • Research on Station
        • Benefits of Research on the ISS
        • Industrial R&D
        • Current Project Pipeline
        • Researcher Interviews
      • Current RFI

        hardware

        RFI-Organs-On-Chips Research

      • Researcher Interviews

        No items found
  • Getting to Space
        • Getting to Space
        • Implementation Partners
        • ISS Hardware
        • Proposal Submission Process
        • Launch Vehicles
        • Support Services
      • Recent Posts

        No items found
      • Projects in Flight

        • Project Meteor
        • Development and Deployment of Charge Injection Device Imagers
        • Windows On Earth
        • Street View Imagery Collect on ISS
        • Cyclone Intensity Measurements from the International Space Station (CIMISS)
        View Current ISS Project Pipeline »
  • Research Library
        • ISS National Lab Research Database
        • ISS National Lab Reports
        • Web Resources
        • Research Apps
      • Recently Added Research

        • Genotype, B-vitamin status, and androgens affect spaceflight-induced ophthalmic changes
        • SUBSONIC MOTION OF A PROJECTILE IN A FLUID COMPLEX PLASMA UNDER MICROGRAVITY CONDITIONS
        • Coactivator-Dependent Oscillation of Chromatin Accessibility Dictates Circadian Gene Amplitude via REV-ERB Loading
      • Popular Tags

        • Cell Differentiation
        • Earth Observation
        • Fluid physics
        • Gene Expression
        • Human Research
        • Material science
        • Mice
        • Microbiology
        • Simulated microgravity
        • Technology demonstration
  • Make Contact
  • Home
  • Research on Station
    • Benefits of Microgravity
    • Industrial R&D
    • Current Project Pipeline
    • Research Opportunities
    • Researcher Interviews
  • Facilities & Hardware
    • ISS Hardware
    • Implementation Partners
  • Getting to Space
    • Getting to Space
    • Proposal Submission Process
    • Launch Vehicles
  • Research Library
    • Research Apps
    • Researcher Guides
    • Resources
    • Publication Database

« Go Back

Toll mediated infection response is altered by gravity and spaceflight in Drosophila

Taylor, K., et al. (2014). "Toll mediated infection response is altered by gravity and spaceflight in Drosophila." PLoS One 9 1: e86485

Space travel presents unlimited opportunities for exploration and discovery, but requires better understanding of the biological consequences of long-term exposure to spaceflight. Immune function in particular is relevant for space travel. Human immune responses are weakened in space, with increased vulnerability to opportunistic infections and immune-related conditions. In addition, microorganisms can become more virulent in space, causing further challenges to health. To understand these issues better and to contribute to design of effective countermeasures, we used the Drosophila model of innate immunity to study immune responses in both hypergravity and spaceflight. Focusing on infections mediated through the conserved Toll and Imd signaling pathways, we found that hypergravity improves resistance to Toll-mediated fungal infections except in a known gravitaxis mutant of the yuri gagarin gene. These results led to the first spaceflight project on Drosophila immunity, in which flies that developed to adulthood in microgravity were assessed for immune responses by transcription profiling on return to Earth. Spaceflight alone altered transcription, producing activation of the heat shock stress system. Space flies subsequently infected by fungus failed to activate the Toll pathway. In contrast, bacterial infection produced normal activation of the Imd pathway. We speculate on possible linkage between functional Toll signaling and the heat shock chaperone system. Our major findings are that hypergravity and spaceflight have opposing effects, and that spaceflight produces stress-related transcriptional responses and results in a specific inability to mount a Toll-mediated infection response.

Related URLs:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24475130

ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) 1932-6203 (Linking)

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0086485

PMCID: 3901686

Accession Number: 24475130

Share this
0
0
0
Tags: *Gene Expression Regulation, Animals, Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides, Botrytis, Drosophila melanogaster, Drosophila Proteins, Escherichia coli, Genetics, Heat-Shock Proteins, Hypergravity, immunity, Immunocompromised Host, Immunology, Innate, Male, Microbiology, Microgravity, Signal Transduction, Space Flight, Toll-Like Receptors, Weightlessness