scholarly journals Evaluating the lettuce metatranscriptome with MinION sequencing for future spaceflight food production applications

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Natasha J. Haveman ◽  
Christina L. M. Khodadad ◽  
Anirudha R. Dixit ◽  
Artemis S. Louyakis ◽  
Gioia D. Massa ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Transcriptional Activity ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Orbit Space ◽  
Potential Method ◽  
Plant Health ◽  
Psychological Benefits ◽  
Sequencing Platform

AbstractHealthy plants are vital for successful, long-duration missions in space, as they provide the crew with life support, food production, and psychological benefits. The microorganisms that associate with plant tissues play a critical role in improving plant health and production. To that end, we developed a methodology to investigate the transcriptional activities of the microbiome of red romaine lettuce, a key salad crop that was grown under International Space Station (ISS)-like conditions. Microbial transcripts enriched from host–microbe total RNA were sequenced using the Oxford Nanopore MinION sequencing platform. Results show that this enrichment approach was highly reproducible and could be an effective approach for the on-site detection of microbial transcriptional activity. Our results demonstrate the feasibility of using metatranscriptomics of enriched microbial RNA as a potential method for on-site monitoring of the transcriptional activity of crop microbiomes, thereby helping to facilitate and maintain plant health for on-orbit space food production.

scholarly journals Supplemental Food Production With Plants: A Review of NASA Research

2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina M. Johnson ◽  
Haley O. Boles ◽  
LaShelle E. Spencer ◽  
Lucie Poulet ◽  
Matthew Romeyn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Space Environment ◽  
Martian Surface ◽  
Supplemental Food ◽  
Photosynthetic Organisms ◽  
Fresh Food ◽  
Fresh Foods

Bioregenerative life-support systems for space have been investigated for 60 years, and plants and other photosynthetic organisms are central to this concept for their ability to produce food and O2, remove CO2, and help recycle wastewater. Many of the studies targeted larger scale systems that might be used for planetary surface missions, with estimates ranging from about 40 to 50 m2 (or more) of crop growing area needed per person. But early space missions will not have these volumes available for crop growth. How can plants be used in the interim, where perhaps <5 m2 of growing area might be available? One option is to grow plants as supplemental, fresh foods. This could improve the quality and diversity of the meals on the International Space Station or on the Lunar surface, and supply important nutrients to the astronauts for missions like Mars transit, and longer duration Martian surface missions. Although plant chambers for supplemental food production would be relatively small, they could provide the bioregenerative research community with platforms for testing different crops in a space environment and serve as a stepping stone to build larger bioregenerative systems for future missions. Here we review some of NASA’s research and development (ground and spaceflight) targeting fresh food production systems for space. We encourage readers to also look into the extensive work by other space agencies and universities around the world on this same topic.

Analysis and calculation of the process of low-pressure reverse osmosis during recycling of hygienic water

2019 ◽  
pp. 28-36
Author(s):  
Leonid S. Bobe ◽  
Nikolay A. Salnikov
Keyword(s):  
Mass Transfer ◽  
Reverse Osmosis ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Low Pressure ◽  
Operating Pressure ◽  
Life Support System ◽  
Cleaning Agent ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Pressure Channel

Analysis and calculation have been conducted of the process of low-pressure reverse osmosis in the membrane apparatus of the system for recycling hygiene water for the space station. The paper describes the physics of the reverse osmosis treatment and determines the motive force of the process, which is the difference of effective pressures (operating pressure minus osmotic pressure) in the solution near the surface of the membrane and in the purified water. It is demonstrated that the membrane scrubbing action is accompanied by diffusion outflow of the cleaning agent components away from the membrane. The mass transfer coefficient and the difference of concentrations (and, accordingly, the difference of osmotic pressures) in the boundary layer of the pressure channel can be determined using an extended analogy between mass transfer and heat transfer. A procedure has been proposed and proven in an experiment for calculating the throughput of a reverse osmosis apparatus purifying the hygiene water obtained through the use of a cleaning agent used in sanitation and housekeeping procedures on Earth. Key words: life support system, hygiene water, water processing, low-pressure reverse osmosis, space station.

Space Station Environmental, Thermal Control and Life Support (ETCLS): “Meeting the Evolutionary Growth Challenge”

1984 ◽  
Vol 106 (4) ◽  
pp. 287-291
Author(s):  
H. F. Brose
Keyword(s):  
Closed Loop ◽  
Life Support ◽  
Technology Development ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Space Station ◽  
Thermal Control ◽  
Development Effort ◽  
Program Cost ◽  
Preparedness Plan ◽  
Evolutionary Growth

Renewed interest and planning for a Space Station, probably NASA’s next major space activity, poses a new challenge for ETCLS technology not previously emphasized. Over the past two decades, regenerative life support technology development for Space Station has been underway. This development effort was always aimed at regenerative (closed loop) life support for a full capability Space Station. The level of priority for manned space presence and current budgetary pressures dictate the need for a low cost profile program with an evolutionary growth Space Station. The initial capability may be a small station with a crew of 2 or 3. This station could grow in size and capability by the addition of modules to a station with a crew of 8 to 12 with the possibility of multiple stations in orbit. Depending upon the selected missions, the early station may be best served by an open or only partially closed loop ETCLS whereas the final station may need a completely closed loop ETCLS. The challenge would be to grow in-orbit the ETCLS system capability in a “no-throw-away” fashion in order to minimize annual and total program cost. This paper discusses a possible ETCLS system evolutionary growth scenario, the Space Station architecture variations influencing the ETCLS system design, and a technology preparedness plan for Space Station ETCLS.

scholarly journals Critical role of the extracellular signal–regulated kinase–MAPK pathway in osteoblast differentiation and skeletal development

2007 ◽  
Vol 176 (5) ◽  
pp. 709-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunxi Ge ◽  
Guozhi Xiao ◽  
Di Jiang ◽  
Renny T. Franceschi
Keyword(s):  
Transcriptional Activity ◽  
Mapk Pathway ◽  
Skeletal Development ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Dominant Negative ◽  
Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase ◽  
Extracellular Signal Regulated Kinase ◽  
Extracellular Signal

The extracellular signal–regulated kinase (ERK)–mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway provides a major link between the cell surface and nucleus to control proliferation and differentiation. However, its in vivo role in skeletal development is unknown. A transgenic approach was used to establish a role for this pathway in bone. MAPK stimulation achieved by selective expression of constitutively active MAPK/ERK1 (MEK-SP) in osteoblasts accelerated in vitro differentiation of calvarial cells, as well as in vivo bone development, whereas dominant-negative MEK1 was inhibitory. The involvement of the RUNX2 transcription factor in this response was established in two ways: (a) RUNX2 phosphorylation and transcriptional activity were elevated in calvarial osteoblasts from TgMek-sp mice and reduced in cells from TgMek-dn mice, and (b) crossing TgMek-sp mice with Runx2+/− animals partially rescued the hypomorphic clavicles and undemineralized calvaria associated with Runx2 haploinsufficiency, whereas TgMek-dn; Runx2+/− mice had a more severe skeletal phenotype. This work establishes an important in vivo function for the ERK–MAPK pathway in bone that involves stimulation of RUNX2 phosphorylation and transcriptional activity.

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