Temporal enrichment of bacterial monoamine oxidase gene aboard the international space station and neuromodulator impacts of dopamine-driven ammonium formed by space isolate Leifsonia virtsii on Caenorhabditis elegans
9 affiliations
- 1Division of Microbiology and Biotechnology, Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangalore, India
- 2Caenorhabditis elegans Laboratory Facility (CeLF), Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangalore, India
- 3Anaerobic & Translational Genomics Centre (ATGC), Yenepoya Research Centre, Yenepoya (Deemed to be University), Deralakatte, Mangalore, India
- 4NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
- 5Department of Space Studies, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, ND, United States
- 6Antimicrobial Resistance and Microbial Ecology Group, School of Medicine, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland
- 7Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health, Oakland, CA, United States
- 8Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
- 9Yenepoya International School, Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia
Abstract
Dopamine regulates neurological functions, whereas its deficiency is linked with cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. The spatiotemporal distribution of dopamine-degrading microbes and the implications of dopamine catabolites on eukaryotes remain unexplored. Here, we demonstrate dopamine metabolism in Leifsonia virtsii F6_8S_P_1AT, an Actinomycetes isolated from the crew quarters aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and reveal dopamine catabolite-driven modulation of cognition and chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans. L. virtsii shared a high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>97.9%) and OrthoANI values (79.44–84.96%) with the Leifsonia species, isolated from terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A key gene encoding monoamine oxidase (MAO) involved in dopamine catabolism was found in 61.5% of validly established Leifsonia species, including L. virtsii, but not in ISS co-isolate L. williamsii F6_8S_P_1BT. Analysis of the ISS metagenome revealed temporal enrichment of MAO-associated signatures across Microbial Tracking studies (MT1 to MT3, 2015-2022), driven predominantly by candidate MAO homologs taxonomically associated with Actinomycetota in MT3, whereas strong F6-8S-P-1A-like MAO signals were restricted to two MT2 libraries. Dopamine input stimulated MAO gene expression in L. virtsii at early growth phase, and was found to complement cell division, biofilm establishment and extracellular NH4+ formation in L. virtsii. MAO expression decreased with increasing time/NH4+ concentration, whereas expression of marker genes representing DNA synthesis and transcription (gyrB), translation (tuf) and biofilm formation (cslA) exhibited concurrent upregulation. Dopamine-driven NH4+ formation further altered cognition and chemotaxis in C. elegans. Our analysis suggests that the dopamine metabolic pathway detected in L. virtsii is not an ISS-specific trait and rather represents a phenotype retrieved from Earth. The present study provides direct evidence of spatiotemporal flexibility and heterogeneous dopamine-metabolizing capacity among Actinomycetes. The findings further demonstrate that a dopamine catabolite can modulate chemosensory interactions in a eukaryotic model and highlight the succession and persistence of MAO-bearing taxa aboard ISS.
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BibTeX
@article{mayuri2026temporal,
title = {{Temporal enrichment of bacterial monoamine oxidase gene aboard the international space station and neuromodulator impacts of dopamine-driven ammonium formed by space isolate Leifsonia virtsii on Caenorhabditis elegans}},
author = {Naikap Mayuri and Honagodu Ravichandra Dhanyashree and Honagodu Ravichandra Dhanyashree and Rajesh Padumane Shastry and Rajesh Padumane Shastry and Rajesh Padumane Shastry and Kasthuri Venkateswaran and Kasthuri Venkateswaran and Georgios Miliotis and Nitin Kumar Singh and Nitin Kumar Singh and Paul Stothard and Ananthapadmanabha Bhagwath Arun and Ananthapadmanabha Bhagwath Arun and Asif Hameed and Asif Hameed and Asif Hameed},
journal = {Frontiers in Microbiology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fmicb.2026.1943403},
url = {https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1943403},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Temporal enrichment of bacterial monoamine oxidase gene aboard the international space station and neuromodulator impacts of dopamine-driven ammonium formed by space isolate Leifsonia virtsii on Caenorhabditis elegans
AU - Naikap Mayuri
AU - Honagodu Ravichandra Dhanyashree
AU - Honagodu Ravichandra Dhanyashree
AU - Rajesh Padumane Shastry
AU - Rajesh Padumane Shastry
AU - Rajesh Padumane Shastry
AU - Kasthuri Venkateswaran
AU - Kasthuri Venkateswaran
AU - Georgios Miliotis
AU - Nitin Kumar Singh
AU - Nitin Kumar Singh
AU - Paul Stothard
AU - Ananthapadmanabha Bhagwath Arun
AU - Ananthapadmanabha Bhagwath Arun
AU - Asif Hameed
AU - Asif Hameed
AU - Asif Hameed
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/23
JO - Frontiers in Microbiology
DO - 10.3389/fmicb.2026.1943403
UR - https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2026.1943403
AB - Dopamine regulates neurological functions, whereas its deficiency is linked with cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative diseases. The spatiotemporal distribution of dopamine-degrading microbes and the implications of dopamine catabolites on eukaryotes remain unexplored. Here, we demonstrate dopamine metabolism in Leifsonia virtsii F6_8S_P_1AT, an Actinomycetes isolated from the crew quarters aboard the International Space Station (ISS), and reveal dopamine catabolite-driven modulation of cognition and chemotaxis in Caenorhabditis elegans. L. virtsii shared a high 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (>97.9%) and OrthoANI values (79.44–84.96%) with the Leifsonia species, isolated from terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A key gene encoding monoamine oxidase (MAO) involved in dopamine catabolism was found in 61.5% of validly established Leifsonia species, including L. virtsii, but not in ISS co-isolate L. williamsii F6_8S_P_1BT. Analysis of the ISS metagenome revealed temporal enrichment of MAO-associated signatures across Microbial Tracking studies (MT1 to MT3, 2015-2022), driven predominantly by candidate MAO homologs taxonomically associated with Actinomycetota in MT3, whereas strong F6-8S-P-1A-like MAO signals were restricted to two MT2 libraries. Dopamine input stimulated MAO gene expression in L. virtsii at early growth phase, and was found to complement cell division, biofilm establishment and extracellular NH4+ formation in L. virtsii. MAO expression decreased with increasing time/NH4+ concentration, whereas expression of marker genes representing DNA synthesis and transcription (gyrB), translation (tuf) and biofilm formation (cslA) exhibited concurrent upregulation. Dopamine-driven NH4+ formation further altered cognition and chemotaxis in C. elegans. Our analysis suggests that the dopamine metabolic pathway detected in L. virtsii is not an ISS-specific trait and rather represents a phenotype retrieved from Earth. The present study provides direct evidence of spatiotemporal flexibility and heterogeneous dopamine-metabolizing capacity among Actinomycetes. The findings further demonstrate that a dopamine catabolite can modulate chemosensory interactions in a eukaryotic model and highlight the succession and persistence of MAO-bearing taxa aboard ISS.
SN - 1664-302X
ER -