Defining Microbiome Impact on Host Physiology During Spaceflight Using Caenorhabditis elegans.

Area of Science:

• Space biology
• Microbiology
• Genetics

Background:

• Investigating host-microbiome interactions is crucial for understanding life in space.
• Current methods for studying these interactions in microgravity are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop novel Caenorhabditis elegans cultivation methods for studying host-microbiome interactions under space-relevant conditions.
• To enable real-time phenotypic assessment and molecular analysis of these interactions in microgravity.

Main Methods:

• Integration of live bacterial communities instead of chemically defined media.
• Utilization of auxin-inducible degradation systems to control C. elegans reproduction.
• Development of specialized hardware platforms, including gas-permeable polyethylene bags and NemaCapsules with micropillar arrays.

Main Results:

• Established microbiome-integrated cultivation systems for C. elegans.
• Enabled large-scale cultivation supporting complex microbiomes and downstream molecular analyses.
• Facilitated real-time phenotypic assessment through on-orbit imaging in microgravity.

Conclusions:

• The developed methods transform the study of host-microbiome interactions in space.
• These innovations allow correlating molecular signatures with physiological outcomes in microgravity.
• This research advances the capability to investigate biological processes under space-relevant stresses.