ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 30 (UPI) -- Tiny fruit flies are helping NASA study how brain activity and sleep patterns change when organisms live in the microgravity of space.
An experiment on the International Space Station will build on the United States' legacy of using fruit flies to understand how life endures in space.
The experiment, known as Genes in Space-7, uses genetic matter derived from fruit fly brains to understand their circadian rhythm -- or 24-hour sleep cycle.
"Of course, it would be ideal to sample astronauts' neural tissue, but we can't do that safely," said Finsam Samson, a student at Stanford University in California and lead investigator for the GIS-7 experiment, which was delivered to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon capsule in November.
"Instead, we can send large numbers of fruit flies, and they are a great organism to study, since there's been groundbreaking work on Earth and in space on fruit flies already," Samson said.
The current experiment uses only genetic material from fruit flies grown on Earth to prove the technique that would be used to analyze fruit flies grown on the space station in future experiments.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins conducted a genetics test known as a polymerase chain reaction on the genetic matter to tease out portions of it that are related to circadian rhythm.
Astronauts aboard the station then froze the sample for return to Earth, where scientists will examine the substance to ensure the process works properly in microgravity.
The experiment is due to return on SpaceX's Dragon capsule re-entry, planned for Jan. 11.
The United States first sent fruit flies into space in 1947 as the first living things intentionally launched beyond the atmosphere. At that time, scientists merely wanted to know if life could survive in space, and the insects were recovered alive, according to military and NASA records.
Fruit flies have been used since then due to their small size and their 24-hour circadian rhythm, which is similar to humans, Samson said. NASA maintains a fruit fly "farm" or laboratory for such uses at the agency's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.
NASA astronaut Kate Rubins recently analyzed some of the flies' genetic material as part of the Genes in Space experiment on board the space station, Samson said.
The Genes in Space program is sponsored by Boeing and Cambridge, Mass.-based company miniPCR bio, which makes genetic testing kits.
The experiment sets up protocols, or work flow, for more fruit fly missions planned in the next decade, said Emily Gleason, biologist and curriculum specialist with miniPCR.
"We're showing that the technology can work in microgravity, to detect the expression of certain genes," Gleason said.
"We know that astronauts and other living things are impacted by microgravity, but until recently we have been unable to study that at a molecular or genetic level," she said.
"These experiments set the stage to do that, which could help to monitor astronaut health for deep space missions."
Samson, as a high school senior in 2019, won a Genes in Space competition to use advanced DNA sampling methods in space experiments with fellow student Yujie Wang.
20 years aboard the International Space Station
The International Space Station is photographed by Expedition 56 crew members from a Soyuz spacecraft after undocking on October 4, 2018. NASA astronauts Andrew Feustel and Ricky Arnold and Roscosmos cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev executed a fly-around of the orbiting laboratory to take pictures of the space station before returning home after spending 197 days in space. Photo courtesy of NASA/Roscosmos
Guinness World Records announced on October 19, 2020, that NASA astronauts Christina Koch (R) and Jessica Meir, who made history with the first all-female spacewalk on October 18, 2019, are being honored for this achievement with a feature in the Guinness World Records 2021 edition. The historic spacewalk took place at the ISS, where they worked on maintenance and upgrades. While this was Koch's fourth spacewalk, it was Meir's first. Photo by NASA/UPI | License Photo
Expedition 64 NASA astronaut Kate Rubins is seen having her Russian Sokol suit pressure checked as she and fellow crewmates Sergey Kud-Sverchkov and Sergey Ryzhikov of Roscosmos prepare for their Soyuz launch to the ISS on October 14, 2020, at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The trio was launched at 1:45 a.m. EDT to begin a six-month mission aboard the ISS. Photo by Andrey Shelepin/GCTC/NASA | License Photo
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is happy to be aboard the ISS after the hatch opening of the Soyuz spacecraft March 28, 2015. Kelly traveled with Expedition 43 Russian cosmonauts Mikhail Kornienko and Gennady Padalka on the Soyuz TMA-16M that was launched the day before from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. Kelly and Kornienko each spent a year in space and returned to Earth on Soyuz TMA-18M in March 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronaut William Shepherd (C), the Expedition 1 mission commander, looks on while Soyuz commander cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko (L) and the flight engineer, cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, apply final touches to his full pressure entry suit as he lies on a couch of a Johnson Space Center trainer on May 12, 2000. Scheduled to come back from his space station stay aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, the three were participating in a rehearsal of their duties during shuttle descent. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly cared for two crops in the Veggie Plant Growth Facility during his year in space. Understanding the most effective ways to grow plants in microgravity is a key piece of the future journey to Mars. Growing plants in space provides crew members with fresh foods to supplement their diets, as well as a positive effect on morale and well-being. Photo courtesy of NASA
Tim Kopra photographed his breakfast floating inside of the Unity module aboard the ISS on April 16, 2016. In a tweet, he remarked "#Breakfast taco on #ISS: refried beans, shredded pork, pepper jack cheese, eggs and salsa on a tortilla. Awesome." Photo courtesy of NASA
Flight controllers at the ISS Mission Control at Johnson Space Center monitor systems aboard the orbiting laboratory during a number of dynamic events for Expedition 44 on August 10, 2015. Screens in the front of the room show the camera views from two spacewalking Russian cosmonauts, while NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren is seen harvesting lettuce from the veggie experiment that would become the first food grown in space to be eaten. Photo by Bill Stafford/NASA
Expedition 61 crew members, from left to right, NASA flight engineers Meir, Andrew Morgan and Koch with Commander Luca Parmitano of ESA unpack fresh fruit and other goodies from a stowage bag delivered aboard Japan's HTV-8 cargo craft on the ISS on October 7, 2019. Photo courtesy of NASA
Kelly corrals the supply of fresh fruit that arrived on the Kounotori 5 H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV-5) on August 25, 2015. Visiting cargo ships often carry a small cache of fresh food for crew members aboard the ISS. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronauts Jeff Williams (shown here) and Rubins successfully installed a new international docking adapter on August 19, 2016, during a 5-hour, 58-minute spacewalk. Japanese astronaut Takuya Onishi assisted the duo from inside the space station, while all three then cleaned up the Quest airlock, where they stowed their spacesuits and tools. Photo courtesy of NASA
Koch worked in the vacuum of space 265 miles above the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa aboard the ISS on January 15, 2020. She and Meir conducted a spacewalk to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure. Photo courtesy of NASA
Astronauts aboard the ISS captured these star trail images as they orbited the Earth at 17,500 mph on October 3, 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy embarks on a spacewalk outside the ISS on June 16, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Behnken and Cassidy completed the first of two scheduled spacewalks on June 16, 2020, to replace batteries on one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the ISS. Of this image posted by Behnken on Twitter, he said: "Yesterday, @Astro_SEAL snapped this shot from our worksite on @Space_Station – @SpaceX's Crew Dragon and @JAXA_en's HTV in clear view. Not bad for a view while working. …" Photo courtesy of NASA/Twitter | License Photo
Koch (L) and Meir work on their U.S. spacesuits ahead of a spacewalk they conducted to install new lithium-ion batteries that store and distribute power collected from solar arrays on the station’s Port-6 truss structure on the ISS on January 15, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Commander Peggy Whitson works to change the media in a BioCell for the OsteoOmics experiment inside the Microgravity Sciences Glovebox in the Destiny U.S. Laboratory on the ISS on May 3, 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA
Rubins checks a sample for air bubbles before loading it in the biomolecule sequencer in September 2016. Photo courtesy of NASA
Roscosmos cosmonaut and Expedition 63 Flight Engineer Ivan Vagner transfers biological samples into a science freezer for stowage and later analysis aboard the ISS on October 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of NASA
Cassidy (L) and Behnken work on U.S. spacesuits inside the ISS's Quest airlock. The two conduct spacewalks on June 26 and July 1, 2020, to begin the replacement of batteries for one of the power channels on the orbiting laboratory. They replaced aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for one of two power channels on the far starboard truss (S6 Truss) of the station with new lithium-ion batteries that arrived to the station on a Japanese cargo ship. This was the culmination of power upgrade spacewalks that began in January 2017. Photo courtesy of NASA | License Photo
