Effects of 60 days of 6° head-down bed rest on the composition and function of the human gut microbiota

Yixuan Li; Zizhong Liu; Gui Luo; Haiyun Lan; Pu Chen; Ruikai Du; Gongchao Jing; Lu Liu; Xiaohan Cui; Yongzhi Li; Yanping Han; Jian Xu; Hongwei Zhu; Shukuan Ling; Yingxian Li

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2023.106615

Effects of 60 days of 6° head-down bed rest on the composition and function of the human gut microbiota

iScience. 2023 Apr 7;26(5):106615. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2023.106615. eCollection 2023 May 19.

Authors

Yixuan Li^{1

2}, Zizhong Liu³, Gui Luo⁴, Haiyun Lan⁵, Pu Chen⁵, Ruikai Du³, Gongchao Jing⁶, Lu Liu⁶, Xiaohan Cui⁶, Yongzhi Li³, Yanping Han⁷, Jian Xu⁶, Hongwei Zhu¹, Shukuan Ling⁸, Yingxian Li³

Affiliations

¹ School of Life Sciences, Ludong University, Yantai, China.
² Yantai Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Yantai, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Space Medicine Fundamentals and Application, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China.
⁴ Department of Rheumatology, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, China.
⁵ Key Lab of Space Nutrition and Food Engineering, China Astronaut Research and Training Center, Beijing, China.
⁶ Single-Cell Center, CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels, Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Shandong Energy Institute, Qingdao New Energy Shandong Laboratory, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Biosecurity, Beijing Institute of Microbiology and Epidemiology, Beijing, China.
⁸ Oujiang Laboratory, Zhejiang Lab for Regenerative Medicine, Vision and Brain Health, Wenzhou, Zhejiang 325000, P.R. China.

Abstract

Spaceflight is rigorous and dangerous environment which can negatively affect astronauts' health and the entire mission. The 60 days of 6° head-down bed rest (HDBR) experiment provided us with an opportunity to trace the change of gut microbiota under simulated microgravity. The gut microbiota of volunteers was analyzed and characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metagenomic sequencing. Our results showed that the composition and function of the volunteers' gut microbiota were markedly was affected by 60 days of 6° HDBR. We further confirmed the species and diversity fluctuations. Resistance and virulence genes in the gut microbiota were also affected by 60 days of 6° HDBR, but the species attributions remained stable. The human gut microbiota affected by 60 days of 6° HDBR which was partially consistent with the effect of spaceflight, this implied that HDBR was a simulation of how spaceflight affects the human gut microbiota.

Keywords: Genomic analysis; Genomics; Space sciences.