Mice with extra-long telomeres
A way to preserve youth has been found
Scientists from the Spanish Cancer Research Center managed to create mice with extra-long telomeres in their chromosomes. At the same time, the animals remained young longer. In their work, scientists did not resort to genetic manipulation, but used epigenetic mechanisms. The study was published in the journal Nature Communications on Thursday, June 2 (Varela et al., Generation of mice with longer and better preserved telomeres in the absence of genetic manipulations).
Cells (green) and extra-long telomeres (red).
A picture from the press release of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre
Mice with hyper-long telomeres without altering the genes – VM.
Telomeres are the end sections of chromosomes and perform a protective function. Every time a copy of DNA is synthesized in preparation for cell division, telomeres are shortened. Since there are no genes in telomeres, the loss of their fragments does not harm cells. With age, the length of telomeres becomes smaller, and when it reaches a critical value, the cell dies or stops dividing. That is why scientists believe that the process of shortening telomeres is associated with aging.
Early studies have shown that the transformation of ordinary cells into stem cells by epigenetic reprogramming leads to telomere elongation. Later it was shown that the same phenomenon spontaneously occurs in the culture of embryonic stem cells, while the ends of chromosomes are lengthened twice. However, the scientists decided to check what would happen if a mouse grew out of these cells.
The results demonstrated that the DNA of mouse cells with hyper-long telomeres accumulates less damage and is also repaired more efficiently by special enzymes. Moreover, the modified animals were less likely to develop cancerous tumors than normal animals. In general, mice with long telomeres stayed young longer at the molecular level.
The next step, according to scientists, will be the creation of a new species of mice, whose telomere length will be twice as long. Thus, experts intend to study whether such animals will live longer compared to other rodents.
Epigenetic mechanisms are understood as a way to regulate the activity of genes not through changes in the DNA sequence, but through various compounds that interact with genes or related proteins.
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03.06.2016