Spatiotemporal expression and control of haemoglobin in space

It is now widely recognised that the environment in space activates a diverse set of genes involved in regulating fundamental cellular pathways. This includes the activation of genes associated with blood homeostasis and erythropoiesis, with a particular emphasis on those involved in globin chain production. Haemoglobin biology provides an intriguing model for studying space omics, as it has been extensively explored at multiple -omic levels, spanning DNA, RNA, and protein analyses, in both experimental and clinical contexts. In this study, we examined the developmental expression of haemoglobin over time and space using a unique suite of multi-omic datasets available on NASA GeneLab, from the NASA Twins Study, the JAXA CFE study, and the Inspiration4 mission. Our findings reveal significant variations in globin gene expression corresponding to the distinct spatiotemporal characteristics of the collected samples. This study sheds light on the dynamic nature of globin gene regulation in response to the space environment and provides valuable insights into the broader implications of space omics research.

Josef Borg, Conor Loy, JangKeun Kim, Alfred Buhagiar, Christopher Chin, Namita Damle, Iwijn De Vlaminck, Alex Felice, Tammy Liu, Irina Matei, Cem Meydan, Masafumi Muratani, Omary Mzava, Eliah Overbey, Krista A. Ryon, Scott M. Smith, Braden T. Tierney, Guy Trudel, Sara R. Zwart, Afshin Beheshti, Christopher E. Mason, Joseph Borg