C. elegans RNAi space experiment (CERISE) in Japanese Experiment Module KIBO.
We have started a space experiment using an experimental organism, the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, in the Japanese Experiment Module, KIBO, of the International Space Station (ISS). The specimens were boarded by space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-129 which launched from NASA Kennedy Space Center on November 16, 2009. The purpose of the experiment was several-fold: (i) to verify the efficacy of RNA interference (RNAi) in space, (ii) to monitor transcriptional and post-translational alterations in the entire genome in space, and (iii) to investigate mechanisms regulating and countermeasures for muscle alterations in response to the space environment. In particular, this will be the first study to utilize RNAi in space.
Higashitani
Atsushi
A
Graduate School of Life Sciences, Tohoku University, Sendai, 980-8577, Japan.
Hashizume
Toko
T
Sugimoto
Tomoko
T
Mori
Chihiro
C
Nemoto
Kanako
K
Etheridge
Timothy
T
Higashitani
Nahoko
N
Takanami
Takako
T
Suzuki
Hiromi
H
Fukui
Keiji
K
Yamazaki
Takashi
T
Ishioka
Noriaki
N
Szewczyk
Nathaniel
N
Higashibata
Akira
A