title: Effects of microgravity on DNA damage response in Caenorhabditis elegans during Shenzhou-8 spaceflight.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Space radiations and microgravity both could cause DNA damage in cells, but the effects of microgravity on DNA damage response to space radiations are still controversial.
  
  
  METHODS
  A mRNA microarray and microRNA micro- array in dauer larvae of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) that endured spaceflight environment and space radiations environment during 16.5-day Shenzhou-8 space mission was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twice as many transcripts significantly altered in the spaceflight environment than space radiations alone. The majority of alterations were related to protein amino acid dephosphorylation and histidine metabolic and catabolic processes. From about 900 genes related to DNA damage response, 38 differentially expressed genes were extracted; most of them differentially expressed under spaceflight environment but not space radiations, although the identical directions of alteration were observed in both cases. cel-miR-81, cel- miR-82, cel-miR-124 and cel-miR-795 were predicted to regulate DNA damage response through four different anti-correlated genes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Evidence was provided that, in the presence of space radiations, microgravity probably enhanced the DNA damage response in C. elegans by integrating the transcriptome and microRNome.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environmental Systems Biology, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Dalian Maritime University , Dalian, Liaoning , P. R. China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yeqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000235:genetics; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D059447:Cell Cycle Checkpoints / Q000235:genetics; D004249:DNA Damage / Q000235:genetics*; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000235:genetics; D013026:Space Flight; D014893:Weightlessness / Q000009:adverse effects*
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: DNA damage response; Gene expression; Space radiations; microRNA; microgravity