Mission SpaceX CRS-16 RRRM-1 space flight induced skin genomic plasticity via an epigenetic trigger

Genomic plasticity helps adapt to extreme environmental conditions. We tested the hypothesis that exposure to space environment (ESE) impacts the epigenome inducing genomic plasticity. Murine skin samples from the Rodent Research Reference Mission-1 were procured from the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory. Targeted RNA sequencing to test differential gene expression between the skin of ESE versus ground controls revealed upregulation of VEGF-mediated angiogenesis pathways secondary to promoter hypomethylation in responders. Methylome sequencing identified ESE-sensitive hypomethylated genes including developmental angiogenic genes Araf, Vegfb, and Vegfr1. Based on differentially expressed genes, the angiogenesis biofunction was enriched in responders. The induction of genomic plasticity in response to ESE, as reported herein, may be viewed as a mark of biological resilience that is evident in a minority of organisms, responders but not in non-responders, exposed to the same stressor. Inducible genomic plasticity may be implicated in natural resilience to ESE. GeneLab Note: at the time of releasing this dataset, the associated publication has a typo throughout where RRRM-1 samples are incorrectly said to be flown on SpaceX-19 (should be SpaceX-16). The corresponding authors were contacted and it was verified to be an error. They have alerted the publisher of the error and will be making a correction to the publication at some point. As a result, all information in the present study has been curated using the correct mission record for the RRRM-1 payload (SpaceX-16).