Rapid Cellular Perception of Gravitational Forces in Human Jurkat T Cells and Transduction into Gene Expression Regulation
by
Cora Sandra Thiel 1,2,3,*,†, Swantje Christoffel 1,2,†, Svantje Tauber 1,2,3, Christian Vahlensieck 1,3, Diane de Zélicourt 3,4,5, Liliana E. Layer 1,3, Beatrice Lauber 1,3, Jennifer Polzer 1,3 and Oliver Ullrich 1,2,3,6,7,8,*
Cora Sandra Thiel 1,2,3,*,†, Swantje Christoffel 1,2,†, Svantje Tauber 1,2,3, Christian Vahlensieck 1,3, Diane de Zélicourt 3,4,5, Liliana E. Layer 1,3, Beatrice Lauber 1,3, Jennifer Polzer 1,3 and Oliver Ullrich 1,2,3,6,7,8,*
1
Institute of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
2
Department of Machine Design, Engineering Design and Product Development, Institute of Mechanical Engineering, Otto-von-Guericke-University Magdeburg, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106 Magdeburg, Germany
3
Innovation Cluster Space and Aviation (UZH Space Hub), University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
4
The Interface Group, Institute of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
5
Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR Kidney), University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
6
Department of Industrial Engineering, Ernst-Abbe-Hochschule Jena, Carl-Zeiss-Promenade 2, 07745 Jena, Germany
7
Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP), University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland
8
Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL), Kennedy Space Center, 505 Odyssey Way, Exploration Park, FL 32953, USA
*
Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21(2), 514; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms21020514
Received: 11 December 2019 / Revised: 5 January 2020 / Accepted: 11 January 2020 / Published: 14 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Collection Feature Papers in Molecular Genetics and Genomics)
Cellular processes are influenced in many ways by changes in gravitational force. In previous studies, we were able to demonstrate, in various cellular systems and research platforms that reactions and adaptation processes occur very rapidly after the onset of altered gravity. In this study we systematically compared differentially expressed gene transcript clusters (TCs) in human Jurkat T cells in microgravity provided by a suborbital ballistic rocket with vector-averaged gravity (vag) provided by a 2D clinostat. Additionally, we included 9× g centrifuge experiments and rigorous controls for excluding other factors of influence than gravity. We found that 11 TCs were significantly altered in 5 min of flight-induced and vector-averaged gravity. Among the annotated clusters were G3BP1, KPNB1, NUDT3, SFT2D2, and POMK. Our results revealed that less than 1% of all examined TCs show the same response in vag and flight-induced microgravity, while 38% of differentially regulated TCs identified during the hypergravity phase of the suborbital ballistic rocket flight could be verified with a 9× g ground centrifuge. In the 2D clinostat system, doing one full rotation per second, vector effects of the gravitational force are only nullified if the sensing mechanism requires 1 s or longer. Due to the fact that vag with an integration period of 1 s was not able to reproduce the results obtained in flight-induced microgravity, we conclude that the initial trigger of gene expression response to microgravity requires less than 1 s reaction time. Additionally, we discovered extensive gene expression differences caused by simple handling of the cell suspension in control experiments, which underlines the need for rigorous standardization regarding mechanical forces during cell culture experiments in general.
Keywords:
simulated microgravity; vector-averaged gravity; 2D clinostat; immune cells; gene expression; microarray
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Thiel, C.S.; Christoffel, S.; Tauber, S.; Vahlensieck, C.; Zélicourt, D.; Layer, L.E.; Lauber, B.; Polzer, J.; Ullrich, O. Rapid Cellular Perception of Gravitational Forces in Human Jurkat T Cells and Transduction into Gene Expression Regulation. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020, 21, 514.
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