Thesis Abstract and Dissertation Abstracts
Investigations Towards the Development of Microbial Countermeasures for Human Spaceflight
Abstract Category: Science
Course / Degree: PhD
Institution / University: University of Houston, United States
Published in: 2008
One of the important regulatory biology interactions affected by space flight is the alteration of the immune response. There is evidence of immune compromise, reactivation of latent virus infection, and possible development of a premalignant or malignant condition. On the other hand, microorganisms’ response to space environment is equivalently affected and it has been shown that such environment could trigger expression of virulence factors. These conditions could ultimately lead to an increase health risk of infection and therefore could jeopardize the space mission. The present work introduces advances in several critical issues in order to mitigate risks associated with microbial contaminations.
As such, as we increase the duration of spaceflight it becomes legitimate to question the long-term effects of microgravity on bacteria. To this end, E. coli cells were grown under simulated microgravity for 1000 generations and gene expression were analyzed as compared to short-term exposure. The study revealed that 357 genes were significantly expressed and that E. coli cells were responding to long-term exposure either by means which are induced by several stress related factors and/or in a novel way which in both cases may be of concern for the safety of the astronauts.
In order to insure that potentially hazardous bacteria do not escape from life support systems which are essential to long duration spaceflight, one could envision the use of efficient tracking system. To address this, an easily detectable strain, E. coli (PCPHR), which expresses a stable artificial RNA was also evaluated by gene expression. Only one gene (deoC) was unequivocally affected in PCPHR whose primary function is to degrade and/or salvage nucleotides and therefore suggests PCPHR is ideal as an efficient and simple system for source tracking and monitoring for space applications.
Finally, microorganisms are as ubiquitous in space as on Earth. Thus, a sensitive, highly specific system to detect and monitor contaminants is required. A new set of probes were developed by considering a new mechanistic approach to simulate hybridization between the probe and the RNA. Overall the probes were tested, worked well, and demonstrated the power of the new methodology.
Dissertation Keywords/Search Tags:
microbiology, space environment, microgravity, human spaceflight, countermeasures, space biology
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Submission Details: Dissertation Abstract submitted by Fathi Karouia from United States on 24-Jan-2011 22:09.
Abstract has been viewed 2757 times (since 7 Mar 2010).
Fathi Karouia Contact Details: Email: fkarouia@gmail.com
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