New Research Shows ‘Jumping Genes’ Could Be Key to Slowing Aging
Scientists aren’t stopping in their attempts to try and unlock the secrets of aging so we can live healthier lives for longer
Now research into ‘jumping genes’ has revealed a crucial role they play in the way our bodies get older.
We all have transposable elements (TEs) in our DNA code; sequences that can relocate or ‘jump’ from one section to another.
If DNA is like a biological blueprint for our bodies, then TEs are bits of this blueprint that can move around within the genome – it’s a natural process in humans and other animals, but if it’s not carefully controlled, it can cause problems.
Having previously identified a sequence of molecular reactions called the Piwi-piRNA pathway and established its role in controlling TEs, researchers from Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary wanted to see if manipulating it would somehow alter the aging process in Caenorhabditis elegans worms.
“In our lifespan assays, by merely downregulating TEs or somatically overexpressing the Piwi-piRNA pathway elements, we observed a statistically significant lifespan advantage,” says molecular geneticist Ádám Sturm from Eötvös Loránd University.
“This opens the door to a myriad of potential applications in the world of medicine and biology.”
In other words, the worms lived noticeably longer when TE activity was reduced via Piwi-piRNA, suggesting that part of the reason that our bodies age is because of the way these jumping genes are moving around in the DNA genome.
That fits in with studies on animals like the so-called immortal jellyfish: a hydrozoan that is able to continually regenerate and in theory live forever (if it wasn’t for disease or predators). The way that the Piwi-piRNA pathway suppresses TEs in this jellyfish and other similar creatures has also been looked at before.
But until now, it hasn’t been clear whether cellular aging influenced TE activity, or whether TE activity influenced cellular aging. With this C. elegans study, it appears the latter hypothesis is correct, giving us another insight into how organisms get older.
Furthermore, the researchers also noticed an increase in DNA N6-adenine methylation within TE segments – a type of shift in gene activity which increases TE activity – as the worms aged, with the implication being that TEs get busier as we get older.
These are all fascinating findings, and further down the line, we may be able to modify and influence this TE behavior so cells don’t age as quickly as they otherwise might. We probably won’t ever become immortal jellyfish, but we might be able to ensure that our elderly populations have fewer problems with diseases and ailments.
“This epigenetic modification may pave the way for a method to determine age from DNA, providing an accurate biological clock,” says molecular geneticist Tibor Vellai from Eötvös Loránd University.
The research has been published in Nature Communications.
See more here sciencealert.com
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Howdy
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If lives are meant to be extended, it is ‘nature’ that will allow it. Not mad scientists bent on Frankenstein fame.
Do people not realise yet, one sees that which one is supposed to? How life unfolds to the need of the individual, with all individuals contributing to the collective direction of Humanity, be it good, or bad?
At any one time, life of the entire Human race is aimed in a certain direction, and it is people, making choices based on self first, or wider thought for others, that dictates the actual finale method before the curtains close.
I’ve said it several times, Earth is in the grip of “Kali Yuga”, which is the end, The Great Year, a stacked deck. You will find by looking, this phenomena is known in various guises of different belief systems and people’s of the past. Peoples that were removed from the planet. Are the current inhabitants next?
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Anapat
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Kangaroo genes?
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denis dombas
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Globalist believe that commoners like us live too long so they wan’t allow that forus ,just them.For us will be more and more plandemics!
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