Is this project an undergraduate, graduate, or faculty project?

Undergraduate

group

What campus are you from?

Daytona Beach

Authors' Class Standing

Marissa Burke: Senior Nicole Tucker: Senior Linda Delgado: Senior Hugo Castillo: Assistant Professor Alba Chavez: Assistant Professor

Lead Presenter's Name

Marissa Burke

Faculty Mentor Name

Hugo Castillo

Abstract

Organismal adaptation to space conditions, increased background radiation and microgravity, present multiple questions as we plan longer stays in space. Just like other areas of research, we can use bacteria such as Escherichia coli to study adaptations to the chronic, or long-term, exposure to microgravity. Using this model, we kept exponentially growing cultures for up to 24 days under simulated gravity on a 2D clinostat, including a gravity control, aiming to study phenotypic and gene expression changes to characterize E. coli’s homeostatic control. For this purpose, we grew E. coli on nutrient broth with daily re-inoculation and measure the daily accumulation of cells using spectrophotometry and plate counts. Every 5 days we sampled cells for long-term storage in 25% glycerol -80℃. After the completion of the experiment, frozen cultures were re-streaked and tested for their ability to form biofilms, to grow at pH 4.5 and to survive an oxidative stress challenge. Understanding how E. coli responds to various stressors after growing under microgravity can provide future grounds for studying other metabolic processes such as an increase in antibiotic resistance.

Did this research project receive funding support from the Office of Undergraduate Research.

Yes, Ignite Grant

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Phenotypical Effects of Chronic Exposure of Escherichia Coli to Simulated Microgravity

Organismal adaptation to space conditions, increased background radiation and microgravity, present multiple questions as we plan longer stays in space. Just like other areas of research, we can use bacteria such as Escherichia coli to study adaptations to the chronic, or long-term, exposure to microgravity. Using this model, we kept exponentially growing cultures for up to 24 days under simulated gravity on a 2D clinostat, including a gravity control, aiming to study phenotypic and gene expression changes to characterize E. coli’s homeostatic control. For this purpose, we grew E. coli on nutrient broth with daily re-inoculation and measure the daily accumulation of cells using spectrophotometry and plate counts. Every 5 days we sampled cells for long-term storage in 25% glycerol -80℃. After the completion of the experiment, frozen cultures were re-streaked and tested for their ability to form biofilms, to grow at pH 4.5 and to survive an oxidative stress challenge. Understanding how E. coli responds to various stressors after growing under microgravity can provide future grounds for studying other metabolic processes such as an increase in antibiotic resistance.

 

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