Sunday, November 26, 2017

Being in space alters gene expression

Mark and Scott Kelly are Identical twins but they have one huge difference, one spent an entire year in space. early test results show that there is increased methylation in several genes this means that they are "turning off" and these affects are persisting for a short time while he gets reaclimated to being on earth. NASA scientists refer to leaving earths surface is akin to fireworks inside your body as you slip the surly bonds of earth. Many of Scott's genes activated and others turned off and we can see this by looking at the activation of his brother mark's genes while he remained on earth for the year. Also NASA is reporting that Scott's Telomeres grew while in space, could a gravity free environment influence telomerease in somatic cells? NASA is collecting this data to study the effects of a mars expedition and the affect prolonged space travel would have on humans.

the data collected from Scott's year in space could be pivotal to prolonged space travel for years to come and will help humans be successful in our endeavors into space. Its quite interesting that entering space the body starts to methylize certain genes, and activate others. Perhaps the most intriguing piece of evidence is the purported lengthening of Scott's telomeres, will this affect Scott's aging process? will he age slower than his brother? only time will tell.
link 1

2 comments:


  1. This article brings up an avalanche of questions. The fact that growing in a zero gravity environment can cause indeterminate growth of telomeres is pretty cool. Could spark some cool new movie ideas. Cool article.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting topic. Nice experimental version of the one twin in space thing. It is interesting to see that it does not only affect your perception of time as you move outwards, and that it causes physical changes in DNA and gene expression.

    ReplyDelete