Inflammation involves in response of gastric mucosal epithelial cells under simulated microgravity by integrated transcriptomics analysis

As the manned space project enters deep space exploration, astronauts will stay longer in space, and it is important to study the impact of weightlessness on the digestive system. The aim of this research was to identify the key genes which may serve as microgravity sensitive gene. Human gastric mucosal epithelial GES-1 cells were selected from 3-5 generations in logarithmic growth phase, and cells cultured for 7 days in the simulated microgravity (SMG) group and normal gravity (NG) group were collected. The gene expression profiles of NG and SMG groups were obtained using Illumina sequencing platform, and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified by DESeq2 software, then Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analyses were performed. Subsequently, protein-protein interaction network was constructed. A total of 943 DEGs, including 192 downregulated genes and 751 up-regulated genes, were identified.