Do astronauts change their genes when they go to space

Genetic mutations are genetic mutations caused by exposure to cosmic rays. Astronauts wear spacesuits that can block almost all cosmic rays, so theoretically not. However, not all genetic variations are good.

Aerospace activities are a special kind of professional activities, which have the characteristics of special working environment, highly complex vocational skills, and arduous flight tasks. Such a profession requires astronauts not only to have a healthy physique and good mental quality, but also to have a high degree of tolerance and stress resistance to the space environment, and at the same time should have profound knowledge and superb skills. Therefore, all space departments in the world have carefully selected astronauts.

The specific content of astronaut selection is determined according to the equipment of the spacecraft and the space mission, and is generally divided into four aspects.

1. Basic conditions.

It is the same as the pilot selection, but the level of education and work ability are more demanding.

2. Medical selection.

In addition to the medical selection conditions for pilots, attention was paid to the presence of recessive neuro-endocrine system dysfunction in the past. During the physical examination, the cardiovascular system, vestibular function, and visual system must be thoroughly and carefully examined.

3. Psychological selection.

The selection of mental quality is an important aspect of the selection of astronauts, and it is necessary to find out the personality, emotional stability, mental state, adaptability and coordination of working with others.

4. Endurance selection for aerospace special environment.

In the early days of manned spaceflight, people attached great importance to the selection of endurance in special environments, but with the continuous development of aerospace technology and the gradual improvement of the environment in manned spacecraft, some special environmental factor tests, such as noise, vibration and temperature, were no longer the main content of selection. The special environment endurance selection is mainly carried out to test the ability to adapt to weightlessness and re-adaptation after returning, such as vestibular function test, overweight endurance test, low-pressure hypoxia endurance test, etc.

The environment of space is very different from that of Earth. Astronauts in space will undergo some kind of changes in their bodies because of the different environments. So what exactly are these changes?

What usually happens to astronauts' bodies when they come back from going to space?

There will be some changes, because the environment in space is different from the environment on Earth, and the human body may not be able to adapt to it.

Yes, because they will be weightless when they stay in space for a long time, and they will feel very uncomfortable when they first return to Earth, and even how to walk will become unfamiliar.

Their bodies generally have weak resistance, and they will also have certain diseases, because there will be certain substances that cause damage to their bodies when they work.

Hello. Astronauts experience genetic mutations after space travel. NASA research has shown that there are a number of mutations in the astronauts' genomes, but most of them are recoverable and will fade away when the astronauts return to Earth.

In addition, the study found that the space parade had an effect on the astronauts' epigenetics, that is, the astronauts' gene expression was altered, but this change did not affect the astronauts' genomes. As a result, the space parade produces genetic variations in astronauts, but such variations tend to be temporary, and they do not have long-term effects on astronauts' health.

After astronauts return to Earth after completing space science experiments, it is likely that a series of physical changes will occur, which may be related to contact with the space environment.

Of course not, the ISS can also be used for a while, but the environment inside can affect people.

This is impossible, because there is a possibility of electric radiation from the sun everywhere in space, and these are certain measures for genetic change, but they are all within a controllable range.

Humans are also living organisms, and of course they mutate. However, astronauts have space capsules and space suits as protection in space, resisting the mutation of cosmic rays.

Regarding mutations, cosmic rays can damage the DNA of living organisms, interfering with normal DNA synthesis and replication, so that mutations are created in the next generation. But mutation is indefinite, that is, DNA mutation is random, and it doesn't necessarily become a monster or something after mutation. There are many mutations that are lethal mutations, and the life after these mutations cannot survive, and some mutations are synonymous mutations, that is, there is no difference in protein between the before and after the mutation (because the last digit of the gene codon is oscillating, for example, uua and uug represent the same amino acid, then a mutation to g is no different).

So among the thousands of mutations, there may not be the trait we want, which requires us to use a method to screen. Mutations are not directed, but selection is. For example, we need to mutate a plant that can grow without adding nitrogen fertilizer, so we send 100 million jujube seeds into space, and after cosmic ray irradiation, we don't know which seed we want, so we plant it in the soil without nitrogen fertilizer, and we will see who grows out is what we want, so that we can sift out many seeds of other traits.

It's a bit doha, I hope you can see it.

The "space environment" refers to manned spacecraft and space stations, which do not change the genes of most cells in a person, but can change the gene expression of cells.

The space environment has stronger ionizing radiation than on Earth, part of which is high-energy galactic cosmic rays. With the current precautions, this radiation can cause slightly more DNA damage to astronauts than they would if they lived on Earth, and microgravity conditions can also affect DNA repair. However, the vast majority of mutations are neutral, neither beneficial nor harmful, and the amount of radiation to which astronauts are exposed during normal space missions does not significantly increase cancer rates.

Astronaut Scott Kelly and his identical twin brother Mark Kelly were sampled for peripheral blood cells, RNA sequencing, urine and urine samples, and re-sampled and compared after Scott's 340-day space mission to analyze the impact of the space mission on gene expression.

The comparison results showed that the most striking change was that Scott's telomeres lengthened slightly in space and shortened significantly after returning to Earth; Scott and Mark's gene expression levels and DNA methylation each had some changes, but the content of the changes was different, and the changes in gene expression levels persisted six months after Scott's return to Earth; The damage to Scott's DNA caused by space radiation is mainly due to the inversion and translocation of a part of the chromosomes, which is more inverted than translocated.