Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Telomeric shortening leads to cell and individual aging.



A recent study, conducted by Dr. Shay and Dr. Wright of UT Southwestern Medical Center, on the telomere portion of  DNA strands led to new ideas about long term cell degradation and the subsequent aging of the individual.
Current research has found that telomeres themselves form loops than turn off genes in a younger individual while the lack of the loop activates genes later on in the lifespan, leading to aging. As an person ages the length of the telomeres are shortened due to the nature of DNA replication and translation. When a DNA strand reaches a limit of length too short to form telomeric loops it is hypothesized the lack of protective loop leads to the activation of genes causing aging as well as disease. 

The research has led to the identification of only three genes that are affected by the shortening of the telomere region of DNA strands. With supplementary research, additional genes associated with aging are anticipated to be discovered, opening the doors to hypothetical longer lives of those fortunate enough to afford manipulative DNA procedures.

No comments:

Post a Comment