Drosophila parasitoids go to space: Unexpected effects of spaceflight on hosts and their parasitoids.

ABSTRACT: While fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and humans exhibit immune system dysfunction in space, studies examining their immune systems' interactions with natural parasites in space are lacking. Drosophila parasitoid wasps modify blood cell function to suppress host immunity. In this study, naive and parasitized ground and space flies from a tumor-free control and a blood tumor-bearing mutant strain were examined. Inflammation-related genes were activated in space in both fly strains. Whereas control flies did not develop tumors, tumor burden increased in the space-returned tumor-bearing mutants. Surprisingly, control flies were more sensitive to spaceflight than mutant flies; many of their essential genes were downregulated. Parasitoids appeared more resilient than fly hos

SUBMITTER: Chou J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10797188 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature