The International Space Station Environment Triggers Molecular Responses in Aspergillus niger

Adriana Blachowicz; Jillian Romsdahl; Abby J Chiang; Sawyer Masonjones; Markus Kalkum; Jason E Stajich; Tamas Torok; Clay C C Wang; Kasthuri Venkateswaran

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2022.893071

The International Space Station Environment Triggers Molecular Responses in Aspergillus niger

Front Microbiol. 2022 Jun 30:13:893071. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.893071. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmacy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
² Biotechnology and Planetary Protection Group, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States.
³ Department of Immunology and Theranostics, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, Duarte, CA, United States.
⁴ Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology, Institute for Integrative Genome Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA, United States.
⁵ Ecology Department, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, United States.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.

Abstract

Due to immense phenotypic plasticity and adaptability, Aspergillus niger is a cosmopolitan fungus that thrives in versatile environments, including the International Space Station (ISS). This is the first report of genomic, proteomic, and metabolomic alterations observed in A. niger strain JSC-093350089 grown in a controlled experiment aboard the ISS. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) revealed that ISS conditions, including microgravity and enhanced irradiation, triggered non-synonymous point mutations in specific regions, chromosomes VIII and XII of the JSC-093350089 genome when compared to the ground-grown control. Proteome analysis showed altered abundance of proteins involved in carbohydrate metabolism, stress response, and cellular amino acid and protein catabolic processes following growth aboard the ISS. Metabolome analysis further confirmed that space conditions altered molecular suite of ISS-grown A. niger JSC-093350089. After regrowing both strains on Earth, production of antioxidant-Pyranonigrin A was significantly induced in the ISS-flown, but not the ground control strain. In summary, the microgravity and enhanced irradiation triggered unique molecular responses in the A. niger JSC-093350089 suggesting adaptive responses.

Keywords: Aspergillus niger; International Space Station; genome; metabolome; proteome.