Mapping by VESGEN of Wing Vein Phenotype in Drosophila for Quantifying Adaptations to Space Environments

Vascular patterning is a key, genetically responsive phylogenetic classifier of tissues in major organisms flown in space, such as the wings of (the fruit fly), mouse retina, and leaves of . Phenotypes of increasingly abnormal ectopic wing venation in the highly stereotyped wing generated by overexpressing the construct of antagonist ( ) were mapped and quantified by NASA’s VESsel GENeration Analysis (VESGEN) software. By several confirming vascular parameters, the eight stereotyped wing veins remained quite constant in wild type compared to Class 5 , the most perturbed category of the H-C2 overexpression phenotypes. However, ectopic veins increased in number from 1 in the wild type, to 18 in Class 5 . We therefore demonstrate the feasibility of using VESGEN to quantify microscopic images of altered wing venation in . We further determined that several of the signal transduction pathways affecting wing vein patterning were altered by spaceflight, according to gene expression differences observed in our transcriptomic data from a previous shuttle flight experiment. Future studies will help characterize the extent to which these gene expression changes can cause even subtle developmental changes using model organisms, such as . Therefore, we propose that the sensitive analyses provided by VESGEN software will not only serve as a useful tool to map the genetics of wing vein patterning for terrestrial applications, but also for future phenotypic studies with for spaceflight missions.