'Longevity Gene' Responsible For More Efficient DNA Repair 65
Researchers at the University of Rochester have discovered that the gene "sirtuin 6" (SIRT6) is responsible for more efficient DNA repair in species with longer lifespans. "The research illuminates new targets for anti-aging interventions and could help prevent age-related diseases," reports Phys.Org From the report: SIRT6 is often called the "longevity gene" because of its important role in organizing proteins and recruiting enzymes that repair broken DNA; additionally, mice without the gene age prematurely, while mice with extra copies live longer. The researchers hypothesized that if more efficient DNA repair is required for a longer lifespan, organisms with longer lifespans may have evolved more efficient DNA repair regulators. Is SIRT6 activity therefore enhanced in longer-lived species?
To test this theory, the researchers analyzed DNA repair in 18 rodent species with lifespans ranging from 3 years (mice) to 32 years (naked mole rats and beavers). They found that the rodents with longer lifespans also experience more efficient DNA repair because the products of their SIRT6 genes -- the SIRT6 proteins -- are more potent. That is, SIRT6 is not the same in every species. Instead, the gene has co-evolved with longevity, becoming more efficient so that species with a stronger SIRT6 live longer. The researchers then analyzed the molecular differences between the weaker SIRT6 protein found in mice versus the stronger SIRT6 found in beavers. They identified five amino acids responsible for making the stronger SIRT6 protein "more active in repairing DNA and better at enzyme functions." When the researchers inserted beaver and mouse SIRT6 into human cells, the beaver SIRT6 better reduced stress-induced DNA damage compared to when researchers inserted the mouse SIRT6. The beaver SIRT6 also better increased the lifespan of fruit flies versus fruit flies with mouse SIRT6. The study has been published in the journal Cell.
To test this theory, the researchers analyzed DNA repair in 18 rodent species with lifespans ranging from 3 years (mice) to 32 years (naked mole rats and beavers). They found that the rodents with longer lifespans also experience more efficient DNA repair because the products of their SIRT6 genes -- the SIRT6 proteins -- are more potent. That is, SIRT6 is not the same in every species. Instead, the gene has co-evolved with longevity, becoming more efficient so that species with a stronger SIRT6 live longer. The researchers then analyzed the molecular differences between the weaker SIRT6 protein found in mice versus the stronger SIRT6 found in beavers. They identified five amino acids responsible for making the stronger SIRT6 protein "more active in repairing DNA and better at enzyme functions." When the researchers inserted beaver and mouse SIRT6 into human cells, the beaver SIRT6 better reduced stress-induced DNA damage compared to when researchers inserted the mouse SIRT6. The beaver SIRT6 also better increased the lifespan of fruit flies versus fruit flies with mouse SIRT6. The study has been published in the journal Cell.
already too many people on the Earth (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: (Score:2)
We are driving a new mass extinction event and destroying our planet. We don't need to live longer.
The main object of intelligence is to stay alive in a healthy, wealthy, conscious and cognizant state as long as possible, even if the other bastards die in the forthcoming Anthropocene extinction. Knowing things, like how SIRT6 might protect us from telomere and DNA damage could be instrumental in this endeavor. Might not, but it's worth a shot. As the saying goes:
Adapt or die.
Re:already too many people on the Earth (Score:5, Funny)
We are driving a new mass extinction event and destroying our planet. We don't need to live longer.
Please feel free to hang yourself with biodegradable rope, over a compost pit. You're an example of the kind of people the future can do without.
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I've tried that....
Knowledge Is Only Good In When In Brains (Score:2)
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We are driving a new mass extinction event and destroying our planet. We don't need to live longer.
Goodbye . . . oh, I thought you were leaving.
Nice Beaver... (Score:2)
So all those years eating beaver will help me live longer, right?
- Necron69
Re: (Score:2)
Side effects... (Score:1)
Re: Side effects... (Score:1)
"911, what's your emergency?" "Uh, a PayPal billionaire is in my back yard eating my birch tree,"
Longevity Gene' Responsible For More Efficient DNA (Score:2, Insightful)
IN MICE
Re:Longevity Gene' Responsible For More Efficient (Score:5, Informative)
When the researchers inserted beaver and mouse SIRT6 into human cells.....
Why do Dogs and Horses die young? (Score:4, Insightful)
They are made of basically the same stuff as we are. So why don't they live about as long?
One answer is simply that they do not have to. We take 16 years to breed, and could not survive as a species unless we lived until about 40. Dogs and horses breed in a year or two.
Nature, like software, only works as well as it has to. No need to fix non-critical bugs.
But that said, to live longer has to increase the number of offspring. So a pretty large evolutionary advantage.
But if we knew why other animals died young, we may get insights as to why we grow as old as we do.
Re:Why do Dogs and Horses die young? (Score:4, Insightful)
Nature, like software, only works as well as it has to. No need to fix non-critical bugs.
I already know I'd rather not work with your code.
Re:Why do Dogs and Horses die young? (Score:4, Insightful)
You need to learn to provide customers with what they want. And what they want is features.
Every minute you waste fixing non-critical bugs is a minute that you should be spending adding value to the code. And how do you know if a bug is critical? Because an important customer says it is.
Understanding this distinction between adding value and wasting time is the difference between an undisciplined hacker and an Enterprise Software Manager.
Nature is no different. The structure of DNA and the related biochemistry is a huge tangled mess that looks like it was designed through endless trial and error by an idiot. But it delivers. Because that which did not deliver disappears into oblivion. Just like software projects that do not focus on features.
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At the very least you must not have any serious competition, or are a small time non-critical software developer. Feature set drives interest in a product. Bug fixes drive customer satisfaction.
What you don't understand is, with enterprise software, the people buying the software are not the ones using it.
Re: (Score:3)
and an Enterprise Software Manager.
Yeah, I did enterprise software for a decade. I know your type. Triage meetings are a red herring.
And how do you know if a bug is critical? Because an important customer says it is.
Your customers hate your software and wouldn't use it if they weren't required to by their job.
Enterprise software has a bad reputation. If you were any good, you wouldn't be introducing so many bugs in the first place. You don't need triage meetings, you need to stop sending so many bugs to your customers in the first place. A bug making it to the customer should be a rare thing.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: Why do Dogs and Horses die young? (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
You need to learn to provide customers with what they want. And what they want is features.
... in mice!
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The TLDR is there are three major factors that determine age. One is size (larger = longer). Two or three cases don't fit this model though.
I get bad feels when I see the phrase "as a species".
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Mammals dominate the upper tiers in size. There are very few land animals larger than a human that are not mammals.
Animals that live
Relevant book (Score:2)
Recently finished The Gene by Mukherjee and strongly recommend it for background on this topic. Unfortunately it's a long book and so it's not relevant to the normal time scale of Slashdot discussions...
Solution time again. Variable speed movement on the front page of Slashdot. ADSAuPR, atAJG.
Just what we don't need (Score:1)
200 year old Trump and Murdoch.
House of Elros (Score:2)
So you want to be elves, not humans (Score:3)
Can you imagine your spouse dying centuries ago and you're still grieving for them?
Be careful what you wish for.