Monday, February 9, 2015

DNA Strands at the End of Chromosomes Hints When We're Going to Die

A few days ago, an article was published explaining that biologist, Jason Alder, is starting to realize that the length of telomeres (DNA at the end of chromosomes) is correlated to each person's life span.   Besides hinting at the length of a life, telomeres also have the ability to hint if a specific individual has a higher chance of having bone marrow or liver failure.

When cells replicate, the DNA from the telomeres gets shorter and shorter.   When a chromosome runs out of DNA, the cell dies or becomes inactive.  Inactive cells typically develop into cancer.  However, by looking at the length of different individuals telomeres, a scientist would be able to estimate how long they have to live based off of how many more cell divisions exist.

Alder also found that the length of telomeres can be caused by a mutation of the TINF2 gene in an article that he co-authored.  The mutations from this same gene can also trigger different diseases.  Interestingly enough, the mutated genes can be passed from generation to generation.  This would cause future generations to have a lower life expectancy.  I think that finding out what could be the cause for shorter life spans is interesting.  I also think that it's dangerous because there could easily be a to extend life.  If extending telomeres becomes a popular trend; the life span of the population will be so much longer and the population will get much, much larger.

1 comment:

  1. You bring up a great point about extending the life of a person would basically increase the population in the world. Of course, this would become a huge issue in the future because of lack of resources available. However, if extending telomeres become a trend, I wonder how popular it would actually be? If it were popular, would it be expensive, would there be regulations? Lots of possibilities...

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