Experiments on Worms in Space Show How Low Gravity Can Affect Humans on Genetic Level | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel |…

Astronaut Bruce McCandless II participates in a historical spacewalk.

Imagine an organism that has habituated to carrying 50 to 80 kgs of weight throughout its life and has evolved over millions of years doing just that. Suddenly, one day a member of the species flies off to a new world with no weight pushing him down. Sixty years later, members of this species now spend months in such weightless conditions. Ever wondered how their genes are affected as they adjust to this new normal?

Curiosity is a trait that has driven human species to ever greater heightsexploring every depth and height on this planet, and even travelling beyond this world and into outer space. But while humans remain more curious than ever to explore the celestial bodies around us, scientists have started to wonder how our bodies would respond to this change.

A chief barrier in humans path to long-term space exploration is our inability to survive for long in low gravity conditions. While it has been known that human beings suffer a physical decline in space, a new study has now found how living in low gravity can affect our cells at the genetic leveland it has done so using worms!

The research, conducted by the University of Exeter and the NASA GeneLab, took some Caenorhabditis elegans worms to the International Space Station and exposed them to low gravity conditions. Subsequently, a genetic analysis of these worms revealed "subtle changes" in about 1,000 genes. Stronger effects were observed in some of the genes, especially among neurons (the nervous system cells).

"We looked at levels of every gene in the worms' genome and identified a clear pattern of genetic change," said Dr Timothy Etheridge of the University of Exeter.

"These changes might help explain why the body reacts badly to space flight. It also gives us some therapy targets in terms of reducing these health effects, which are currently a major barrier to deep-space exploration."

Furthermore, this research also exposed the worms to high gravity conditions in centrifuges, and these tests provided the researchers with more data on gravity's genetic impacts while allowing them to look for possible treatments using high gravity in space.

"A crucial step towards overcoming any physiological condition is first understanding its underlying molecular mechanism," said Craig Willis of the University of Exeter, who is also the lead author of the study.

"We have identified genes with roles in neuronal function and cellular metabolism that are affected by gravitational changes. These worms display molecular signatures and physiological features that closely mirror those observed in humans, so our findings should provide foundations for a better understanding of spaceflight-induced health decline in mammals and, eventually, humans."

While the rapid development in technology has brought deep space exploration firmly within our species reach, it remains to be seen if we will be physically and mentally capable of such extended space flights that cover significant distances. But with more and more studies on space flight life sciences, our species might just end up surpassing this barrier as well.

The paper was published in the journal iScience, and it can be accessed here.

**

For weather, science, and COVID-19 updates on the go, download The Weather Channel App (on Android and iOS store). It's free!

See the original post here:

Experiments on Worms in Space Show How Low Gravity Can Affect Humans on Genetic Level | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel |...