Arabidopsis Transcriptional Responses to Spaceflight and Unfolded Protein Response

Spaceflight during the SpaceX-CRS12 mission substantially altered the expression of hundreds of stress-related genes in Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings compared to ground controls. The dataset, produced by NASA, compares transcriptional responses of wild type and UPR-defective mutants to orbital culture on the International Space Station. It provides new information on how plants respond to growth in orbit and supports hypotheses about compensatory signaling pathways.

Use Cases

• Identify stress-related genes differentially expressed in spaceflight based on the description of hundreds of altered genes.
• Compare transcriptional regulatory networks between wild type and UPR-defective mutants under spaceflight conditions.
• Study the role of the unfolded protein response (UPR) signaling cascade in compensating for spaceflight-induced stresses.
• Analyze how orbital culture equalizes gene expression across genotypes compared to ground control conditions.

Strengths

• Data originates from a controlled spaceflight experiment on the SpaceX-CRS12 mission to the International Space Station.
• Analysis compares transcriptional responses across multiple genotypes (wild type and UPR-defective mutants).
• Findings are based on the differential expression of hundreds of stress-related genes.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data is stored in a BIN file format, which may require specialized tools for access and analysis.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Transcriptional analysis of Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings grown during the SpaceX-CRS12 mission compared to ground controls.

Time Range

Associated with the SpaceX-CRS12 mission; specific experiment dates are not provided.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 19:42:21.573711; freshness should be verified.

Geography

International Space Station (orbital) and ground control conditions.