{"id":371,"date":"2026-06-16T22:18:40","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:18:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/scott-kellys-year-in-space-changed-his-gene-expression\/"},"modified":"2026-06-16T22:18:40","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T15:18:40","slug":"scott-kellys-year-in-space-changed-his-gene-expression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/scott-kellys-year-in-space-changed-his-gene-expression\/","title":{"rendered":"Scott Kelly&#8217;s Year in Space Changed His Gene Expression"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: rgb(91, 91, 91); font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif;\">Scott and Mark Kelly are identical twin brothers &mdash; at least, they were until Scott spent a year living in space.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);\">When Scott Kelly returned to Earth after a 340-day voyage aboard the International Space Station (ISS) two years ago, he was 2 inches taller than he&#8217;d been when he left. His body mass had decreased, his gut bacteria were completely different, and &mdash; according to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/nasa-twins-study-confirms-preliminary-findings\" style=\"border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 153, 204); background-color: transparent;\">preliminary findings from NASA researchers<\/a>&nbsp;&mdash; his gene expression had changed significantly. (Interestingly, Scott Kelly has since shrunk back down to his initial prespaceflight height.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);\">A new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/feature\/nasa-twins-study-investigators-to-release-integrated-paper-in-2018\" style=\"border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 153, 204); background-color: transparent;\">NASA statement<\/a>&nbsp;suggests the physical and mental stresses of Scott Kelly&#8217;s year in orbit may have activated hundreds of &quot;space genes&quot; that altered the astronaut&#8217;s immune system, bone formation, eyesight and other bodily processes. While most of these genetic changes reverted to normal following Scott Kelly&#8217;s return to Earth, about 7 percent of the astronaut&#8217;s gene expression remained altered &mdash; and it may stay that way permanently. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/16466-twins-multiple-birthsfascinating-facts.html\" style=\"border-width: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; font-variant-caps: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(0, 153, 204); background-color: transparent;\">Seeing Double: 8 Fascinating Facts About Twins<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);\">The changes are &quot;thought to be from the stresses of space travel, which can cause changes in a cell&rsquo;s biological pathways,&quot; the NASA statement said. &quot;Such actions can trigger the assembly of new molecules, like a fat or protein, cellular degradation, and can turn genes on and off, which change cellular function.&quot;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(91, 91, 91);\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin-top: 16px; margin-bottom: 16px; font-family: &quot;Open Sans&quot;, sans-serif; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: rgb(91, 91, 91); text-align: right;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.livescience.com\/62000-scott-kelly-dna-twin-study.html\" target=\"_blank\">Read more&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Scott and Mark Kelly are identical twin brothers &mdash; at least, they were until Scott spent a year living in space. When Scott Kelly returned to<span class=\"excerpt-hellip\"> [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dnacenter.thaizone.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}