Spaceflight decelerates the epigenetic clock orchestrated with a global alteration in DNA methylome and transcriptome in the mouse retina
作者机构：Center for Genomics School of Medicine Loma Linda University Loma Linda CA 92350 USA Division of Radiation Research Department of Basic Sciences School of Medicine Loma Linda University Loma Linda CA 92354 USA Department of Nutrition and Integrative Physiology Florida State University Tallahassee FL 32306 USA Center for Molecular and Translational Medicine Institute of Biomedical Science Georgia State University Atlanta GA 30303 USA Division of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics Department of Basic Sciences School of Medicine Loma Linda University Loma Linda CA 92350 USA
出 版 物：《Precision Clinical Medicine》
年 卷 期：2021年第4卷第2期
主 题：spaceflight DNA methylome transcriptome epigenetic clock
摘 要：Astronauts exhibit an assortment of clinical abnormalities in their eyes during long-duration spaceflight. The purpose of this study was to determine whether spaceflight induces epigenomic and transcriptomic reprogramming in the retina or alters the epigenetic clock. The mice were flown for 37 days in animal enclosure modules on the International Space Station; ground-based control animals were maintained under similar housing conditions. Mouse retinas were isolated and both DNA methylome and transcriptome were determined by deep sequencing. We found that a large number of genes were differentially methylated with spaceflight, whereas there were fewer differentially expressed genes at the transcriptome level. Several biological pathways involved in retinal diseases such as macular degeneration were significantly altered. Our results indicated that spaceflight decelerated the retinal epigenetic clock. This study demonstrates that spaceflight impacts the retina at the epigenomic and transcriptomic levels, and such changes could be involved in the etiology of eye-related disorders among astronauts.