Earlier this year as part of their Twins Study, NASA issued a press release regarding preliminary results of the comparison between identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. Scott Kelly spent a year in space (March 2015 to March 2016) aboard the International Space Station, and has spent a total of 520 days in space during his career, as opposed to a total of 54 days in space for his brother Mark. One of the ongoing investigations was the study of how space travel influences chemical changes in DNA and RNA. The researchers found that “although 93% of (Scott’s) genes’ expression returned to normal postflight, a subset of several hundred ‘space genes’ were still disrupted after return to Earth”. (A) Many mainstream media outlets reported this incorrectly by stating that Scott Kelly's genome was now only 93% identical to his brother's. What is the difference between the correct and incorrect statements? (B) Why do you think Scott Kelly experienced a 7% change in gene expression? (C) Of the genes with altered expression levels, what processes/pathways do you think they are involved in?
Earlier this year as part of their Twins Study, NASA issued a press release regarding preliminary results of the comparison between identical twin astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. Scott Kelly spent a year in space (March 2015 to March 2016) aboard the International Space Station, and has spent a total of 520 days in space during his career, as opposed to a total of 54 days in space for his brother Mark. One of the ongoing investigations was the study of how space travel influences chemical changes in DNA and RNA. The researchers found that “although 93% of (Scott’s) genes’ expression returned to normal postflight, a subset of several hundred ‘space genes’ were still disrupted after return to Earth”. (A) Many mainstream media outlets reported this incorrectly by stating that Scott Kelly's genome was now only 93% identical to his brother's. What is the difference between the correct and incorrect statements? (B) Why do you think Scott Kelly experienced a 7% change in gene expression? (C) Of the genes with altered expression levels, what processes/pathways do you think they are involved in?
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