The next phase of life-sciences spaceflight research: Harnessing the power of functional genomics

Commun Integr Biol. 2011 Nov 1;4(6):668-9. doi: 10.4161/cib.16975.

Abstract

Recently we demonstrated that the effectiveness of RNAi interference (RNAi) for inhibiting gene expression is maintained during spaceflight in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans and argued for the biomedical importance of this finding. We also successfully utilized green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged proteins to monitor changes in GPF localization during flight. Here we discuss potential applications of RNAi and GFP in spaceflight studies and the ramifications of these experiments for the future of space life-sciences research.