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Geneticists Claim Aging Breakthrough
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Nov 18, 2005 05:02 PM
from the lazarus-long-i-presume dept.
from the lazarus-long-i-presume dept.
Quirk writes "The Science section of The Guardian is reporting on recent experiments by geneticists 'to unlock the secrets of the aging process has created organisms that live six times their usual lifespan, raising hopes that it might be possible to slow ageing in humans.' 'In the experiment, Dr Longo's team took yeast cells and knocked out two key genes, named Sir2 and SCH9. The latter governs the cells' ability to convert nutrients into energy. They found that instead of dying after a week, the cells lived for up to six weeks.''Research has now begun to test whether the effect works in mice.' So it looks like we might soon have near immortal, fearless mice."
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Scientists Identify a Potentially Universal Mechanism of Aging 359 comments
cybergenesis2008 points us to a summary of research out of Harvard Medical School in which a set of genes known to affect aging in yeast was found to affect aging in mice as well. The genes, called sirtuins, perform two particular tasks; regulating which genes are "on" and "off," and also helping to repair damaged DNA. As an organism ages, the frequency of damage to DNA increases, leaving less time for the sirtuins' regulatory tasks. The increasingly unregulated genes then become a significant factor in aging. Realizing this, the researchers "administered extra copies of the sirtuin gene [to the mice], or fed them the sirtuin activator resveratrol, which in turn extended their mean lifespan by 24 to 46 percent." We discussed the plans for this research a few years ago.
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Hilander (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Hilander (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Hilander (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Hilander (Score:3, Funny)
Then again, I was being pretty dorky in the first place.
Let's take it a step further (Score:3, Informative)
We could be out of synch with the frame...
CT GAC TGC ATC
C TGA CTG CAT C
But I'm noticing a concern with the GC being present there. It would not be this sequence that is all so important... GC has a tendency to have 5-methyl-cytosines which are deaminated to thymidine. There's no way that strand would last through the generations of mutation in offspring.
Maybe that's why the highlanders are dying out...?
Re:Let's take it a step further (Score:3, Informative)
Regular C deaminates to Uridine, which gets fixed right away. CG sequences tend to get methylated more frequently unless they are in CpG islands in the upstream promotor regions...
And soon our scientists will say... (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:Hilander (Score:5, Insightful)
The only thing that will last longer than I will is the copyright on my face.
Parent
Re:Hilander (Score:3, Insightful)
Algernon called; he wants his science back.
Worms (Score:2)
We have that already (Score:5, Informative)
Re:We have that already (Score:5, Informative)
* telomerase activity
* insensitivity to apoptosis by either disrupting the proapoptotic signal pathway (Bax, P53, effector-caspase etc) increase the expression of antiapoptotic signals such as Bcl-2
* growth factor independence (ie constitutively active Ras)
* insentivitity to growth inhibitors
* proangiogenetic mutations
Parent
Re:We have that already (Score:5, Insightful)
Parent
Re:We have that already (Score:5, Informative)
It's astonishing how much genetic material is shared going all the way back to yeast, and how much genetic research is transferable. Yeast is a eukaryote (so, while single-celled, they have a nuclei, unlike bacteria), and though it usually reproduces asexually, it can be made to undergo meiosis and bind half its genetic material with that of a "mate".
Note: I am not a genetic researcher, but I work in the same research facility as some, and am encouraged to understand more or less what they do.
Parent
Re:We have that already (Score:3, Insightful)
The Sirtuin genes are well established as a regulator of genes expressed near the ends of telomeres and there are many researchers studying its effects in mammals in fact there are pharmaceutical companies (Sirtris for instance) betting the pharm that, resveratrol, a component of red wine and activator of mammalian sir2 pathway, can be tweaked into a more powerful drug and help everyone live
Re:We have that already (Score:3, Interesting)
Cancer cells.
just having telomerase activity isn't something that's going to let us live forever. the key to long life for a cell is very different from that of long life for humans in general. in some cells, you really DON'T want them to live forever, because they'd never divide.
i know when we will see these benefits (Score:5, Funny)
exactly at the age at which i am too old to partake of any of it
That's not a joke. (Score:5, Insightful)
exactly at the age at which i am too old to partake of any of it
That's not really a joke.
People in government see anti-aging research and treatments in terms of the financial load on the retirement and medical infrastructure relative to the tax base of still-working young, and view improved treatments as extending the life of the infirm aged rather than extending productive, vigorous youth. As a result they tend to be opposed to such research, or in favor of rationing its fruits if it ever has any.
(I recall back in the early days of CNN, when the head of one of the government agencies was being live-interviewed on future solvency issues as the boomers retired, and he slipped and said "We have to get the death rate up to meet the birthrate." Guess what part got clipped from the replay a few hours later...)
Life-extension advocates, of course, point out that real breakthroughs will extend healthy, vigorous life rather than simply stretching senility - and might eventually eliminate the latter entirely. Thus an effective attack on aging would reduce, rather than increase, the load on the systems (once they were adjusted for the increased lifespan).
You'll notice that a significant fraction of The Fine Article is dedicated to heading off such short-sightedness on the part of the portion of the ruling class that will be dispensing grant money and regulating availability of any treatments.
Parent
Re:That's not a joke. (Score:3, Insightful)
Yes, but the politicians worry that they can only use the same old tricks on people for so long before they wise up, so they don't want people living too much longer.
Re:That's not a joke. (Score:3, Insightful)
Long term, the birthrate in the US is actually fine, and SS is *not* a pyramid scheme. It currently works on the assumption that people work at their career for about 40 years, save during that time (actually pay for those on retirement) and then retire for 20 years or so living essentially off their savings. If the birthrate and deathrates are steady and retirement savings are adequate, the sc
It's gonna get.. (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:It's gonna get.. (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:It's gonna get.. (Score:4, Funny)
Not if I have anything to say about it.
There can be only one.
Parent
Re:It's gonna get.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Immortality would last about 800 years. (Score:5, Interesting)
Parent
Fearless cancels out Immortal (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fearless cancels out Immortal (Score:5, Funny)
"What are we going to do tonight, Brain?"
"Same thing we do every night, Pinky: try to take over the world!"
Parent
Re:Fearless cancels out Immortal (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Fearless cancels out Immortal (Score:3, Funny)
Beheading doesn't work. They just regenerate the whole body.
I've got two research projects going on concerning this issue, which will become a major problem in the not too distant future if geek pop culture has taught us anything at all. One involves the experimental use of fire and / or acid to prevent regeneration after the supermouse has been beaten down; the second option
Oh, great more old people (Score:5, Funny)
Yawn (Score:5, Funny)
Especially if they can also sing "Here I come to save the day."
fantastic (Score:3, Funny)
I don't see the point of extending life. (Score:2, Insightful)
Now, humans living a few hundred years and staying able-bodied for most of it would be an incredible advance and would probably serve to benefit society, but... otherwise... I fear and do NOT w
Re:I don't see the point of extending life. (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
just immortal and fearless? (Score:2)
I think you meant immortal, fearless, singing, regenerating, plague-infected mice.
Can't be bothered pasting all the links, here's the link to the
Hitch Hiker's Guide was right!?!?!? (Score:4, Funny)
-Rick
Moral Questions: (Score:3, Interesting)
Mammals aren't exactly fungi (Score:3, Informative)
Do not go gently into that goodnight.... (Score:5, Interesting)
I know there will be the crowd that says - but we were designed to die. That is bunk! Self aware intelligence is bound and destined to perpetuated and proliferate.
Re:Do not go gently into that goodnight.... (Score:5, Insightful)
A lot of social change can take place because old people (and more specifically, old people ideas) die. I'm sure many of us feel that our ideas are enlightened and superior to those of our ancestors, but when we're all pushing 70, we really shouldn't be the ones deciding the direction which society goes. In the year 2050, we're all going to be bitter crotchety old people, set in our ideas talking about these young kids and their crazy ideas. I'm concerned what living in that kind of world will be like. It might have a stagnation effect on a culture, with other "non-longevity" cultures overtaking our own.
I'm still 100% for longevity, but it's not going to be great grandmas and grandpas riding roller blades down the sidewalk as healthy as they were when they were 40. There's going to be definate social change the kind the human race has never seen.
Be sure of one more thing. Someone's going to make a FORTUNE if effective anti-aging drugs can be mass produced. Like, hundreds of billions of dollars, hand over fist.
Parent
Re:Do not go gently into that goodnight.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Additionally, people who have lived their entire lives with a technology internalize it in a way that the older generation j
This is not something that was previously unknown. (Score:5, Interesting)
There are papers that you can search for with sciencedirect.com or scholar.google.com that show rats that are given half the calories of the control group living almost 50% longer. It's just not exactly something that you can sell to people. You can live longer, if you live LESS. There's a reason animals that live very long lives have very slow metabolisms (such as Turtles) and animals that have very high metabolisms live less (such as humming birds and mice). To put it simply, you can 'burn the midnight oil' and live a short life, or eat less and do less and live longer.
Putting it more complicatedly, the reason you age is generally regarded to be because of damage your body and cells accumulate over a lifetime of living. The damage often comes from 'Oxidative stress'. This is just a very broad umbrella term for anything that causes the generation of 'Reactive oxygen species' that are highly reactive molecules that zip about your cell damaging proteins and DNA. ROS are made by things such as too much Vitamin K, smoking, UV light or certain other radiation bands, too much iron in the diet, and so on.
And the biggest contributor to ROS in your body over it's life? The Mitochondria. The 'power plant' of each cell. It makes ROS as a part of the process used to make ATP (the 'batteries' of your cells) and inevitably some escapes and causes damage. Over a life-time the damage builds up.
The biggest contributor to ageing is just plain old living (kind of obvious really), and the best way to therefore cut down on that damage is to eat less, slowing down the metabolism and decreasing the amount of ROS the mitochondria produces.
IMHO, not really worth it! you could get hit by a bus tomorrow! Dig into your fresh Chiabatta and Fetta cheese!
Re:This is not something that was previously unkno (Score:4, Funny)
Parent
I for one welcome our new Disney overlords! (Score:4, Funny)
Bruce Sterling's prophecy coming true? (Score:3, Interesting)
The present version of the "Shaper" movement is known as "Transhumanism [wikipedia.org]". The modern day version of the "Mechanists" would be those who believe in the Ray Kurzweils, Verner Vinge (Singularity Sky) version of the future wherein artificial intelligence becomes integrated with and even exceeds Human Intelligence.
A bit about Transhumanism:: Transhumanism (sometimes abbreviated >H or H+) is an emergent philosophy analyzing or favouring the use of science and technology, especially neurotechnology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, to overcome human limitations and improve the human condition.
...
Dr. Anders Sandberg describes modern transhumanism as "the philosophy that we can and should develop to higher levels, physically, mentally and socially using rational methods," while Dr. Robin Hanson describes it as "the idea that new technologies are likely to change the world so much in the next century or two that our descendants will in many ways no longer be 'human'."
Re:Wow.... (Score:3, Funny)
So... stopping this aging gene also turns us into Swedes?
Re:transhumanists miss the point (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:great... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:great... (Score:3, Interesting)
China's one child policy is a big mistake. China needs more urbanites, not less, in order to build the infrastructure to convert to industrial agriculture. But growth is high enough anyhow, so that
the damage of the policy is not visible.
You can reliably predict that as longevity increases, birth rates will decline. Simply applying the ex
Re:great... (Score:3, Insightful)