Publications
The influence of spaceflight on the astronaut salivary microbiome and the search for a microbiome biomarker for viral reactivation
Urbaniak C, Lorenzi H, Thissen J, Jaing C, Crucian B, Sams C, Pierson D, Venkateswaran K, Mehta S
PMID: 32312311
Abstract
Spaceflight impacts astronauts in many ways but little is known on how spaceflight affects the salivary microbiome and the consequences of these changes on astronaut health, such as viral reactivation. In order to understand this, the salivary microbiome was analyzed with 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, and saliva viral titers were analyzed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) with primers specific for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), herpes simplex virus (HSV), and varicella zoster virus (VZV) from 10 astronauts pre-flight, in-flight, and post-flight.