Morphological differentiation and secondary metabolism responses of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) to Shenzhou-8 spaceflight based on comparative transcriptomics.

In order to gain a better understanding of the effects of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) wild type strain exposed to spaceflight condition, we constructed a whole genome microarray to screen simulated microgravity sensitive genes using the Agilent eArray 5.0 program. The genechip was custom designed according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (Agilent, 8*15K). The genome sequences were downloaded from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome?Db =genome&Cmd = Search&Term = NC_003888, NC_003903.1, NC_003904.1. Each gene was represented by one 60-nt oligonucleotide probe, and 680 genes associated with morphological differentiation and secondary metabolism out of the total 8116 genes were replicated 9 times each. Cells of Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2) wild type strain were harvested from the colonies grown in JCM42 agar medium at 23±0.5°C for 16.5 days in spaceflight experiments. Total RNA was extracted to conduct the microarray experiments. The samples labeled in SP12_1 were from the “μg-position” and C07_1 from the “simulated 1g-position” inside the BIOBOX for spaceflight during Shenzhou-8 space mission. The samples labeled in DB3_1 were from static 1g position on gound as the control. SP12_1 was test sample; C07_1 and DB3_1 were both samples for control.