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Longer Telomeres in Outer Space

telomeres outer space dna twins

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#1 motorcitykid

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Posted 10 March 2018 - 10:07 PM


 I would think that the lack of muscle resistance due to a low gravity environment and the constant radiation bombardment would be sure to shorten telomeres. Not the case:

 

http://www.magapill....m-his-twin.html

 


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#2 Turnbuckle

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 03:29 AM

Considering that both brothers were astronauts, it would have been smart to test them before and after. And having them shorten in 48 hours sounds like a testing error. What could the mechanism be?



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#3 motorcitykid

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 08:08 AM

Considering that both brothers were astronauts, it would have been smart to test them before and after. And having them shorten in 48 hours sounds like a testing error. What could the mechanism be?

 

I agree that's a wildly short time frame for telomeres that became significantly longer to suddently shorten, but I'd think the folks at NASA would be capable enough to carry out blood work on someone w/o screwing it up. It says "the team verified this unexpected change with multiple assays and genomics testing". But I see your point Turnbuckle. I don't think there's ever been a case study here on earth that I'd heard of where a test subject's telomeres shorten so sudden and significantly.

 

They also  say 7 % of his genes changed, and those changes remained. What's the significance of those gene changes?  I wonder. Maybe those gene changes played w/ his telomere length temporarily. Maybe need to look there for some sort of anomaly? 

 

 


Edited by motorcitykid, 11 March 2018 - 08:23 AM.


#4 Turnbuckle

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Posted 11 March 2018 - 10:25 AM

Apparently some of the testing was done in space--“I don’t think people realized it would be so easy to do genomics on astronauts in space.”--and thus the variation might be due to the different (and novel) equipment being used. Methylation also varied, and varied for both men even though only one was in space at the time, which suggests that it has less to do with one being in space and more to do with natural variations or--more likely--errors in testing--

 

DNA methylation — the reversible addition of a chemical marker to DNA that can affect gene expression — decreased in Scott during flight and increased in Mark over the same period, Feinberg says. Levels for both men returned close to preflight levels after Scott came back to Earth. What this means isn’t yet clear, Feinberg says.

https://www.nature.c...-travel-1.21380

 

 

Also interesting is that the testing pointed to genetic problems for both men, and both "are receiving genetic counselling about the possible implications of the findings."


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#5 motorcitykid

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Posted 12 March 2018 - 03:23 AM

Apparently some of the testing was done in space--“I don’t think people realized it would be so easy to do genomics on astronauts in space.”--and thus the variation might be due to the different (and novel) equipment being used. Methylation also varied, and varied for both men even though only one was in space at the time, which suggests that it has less to do with one being in space and more to do with natural variations or--more likely--errors in testing--

 

DNA methylation — the reversible addition of a chemical marker to DNA that can affect gene expression — decreased in Scott during flight and increased in Mark over the same period, Feinberg says. Levels for both men returned close to preflight levels after Scott came back to Earth. What this means isn’t yet clear, Feinberg says.

https://www.nature.c...-travel-1.21380

 

 

Also interesting is that the testing pointed to genetic problems for both men, and both "are receiving genetic counselling about the possible implications of the findings."

If there were errors in testing that's too bad (it seems that's the best explanation). Just have to wait and see what subsequent spaceflights and further testing tells us.
 







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