extend lifespan tagged posts

Discovery of cellular mechanisms could open door to more effective anti-aging therapies. Scientists have identified synergistic cellular pathways for longevity that amplify lifespan fivefold in C. elegans, a nematode worm used as a model in aging research...

Highlights •Partial reprogramming erases cellular markers of aging in mouse and human cells •Induction of OSKM in progeria mice ameliorates signs of aging and extends lifespan •In vivo reprogramming improves regeneration in 12-month-old wild-type mice

In mice carrying a mutation leading to premature aging, reprogramming of chemical marks in the genome, ie epigenetic marks, reduced many signs of aging in the mice and extended their lifespan on average from 18 weeks to 24. The study suggests epigenetic changes drive the aging process, and that those changes may be malleable. “We did not correct the mutation that causes premature aging in these mice,” says Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in the Salk Institute of Biological Science’s Gene Expression Laboratory...

Activity with age. Fluorescence in the fat body of fruit flies tracks the activity of transposable elements of DNA. It increases markedly with age. Credit: Jason Wood/Brown University

A new study increases and strengthens the links that have led scientists to propose the “transposon theory of aging.” Transposons are rogue elements of DNA that break free in aging cells and rewrite themselves elsewhere in the genome, potentially creating lifespan-shortening chaos in the genetic makeups of tissues. As cells get older, prior studies have shown, tightly wound heterochromatin wrapping that typically imprisons transposons becomes looser, allowing them to slip out of their positions in chromosomes and move to new ones, disrupting normal cell function...