Seminar "Genetics of life expectancy and aging": personal impressions

Taskaev A.I.

Anisimov V.N. Spider V.V.

Weisserman A.M.

Olovnikov A.M.

Khalyavkin A.V.

Khokhlov A.N.

On March 25-26, 2008, the first All-Russian seminar "Genetics of life Expectancy and aging" was held at the Institute of Biology of the Komi National Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Syktyvkar).

The organizers of the seminar were:

Russian Academy of Sciences
Ural Branch of Komi NC Institute of Biology;
Russian Foundation for Basic Research;
Gerontological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

This seminar was the first such gathering of geneticists and gerontologists.

It included a plenary session with reports by such world scientists in the field of studying the problem of aging as Anisimov Vladimir Nikolaevich and Olovnikov Alexey Matveevich, followed by thematic sessions:

• Genetic control of the regulation of life expectancy and aging;
• External aging modifiers;
• Applied aspects of life expectancy genetics.

At first, the welcoming speech was given to the Director of the Institute of Biology of the Komi National Research Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences A.I. Taskaev. He greeted the participants of the seminar, briefly told about his institute, about the specifics of scientific work in his region, about the prospects and the need for holding "large" meetings of "large" scientists not only in the capital, but also in other cities.

Then the President of the Gerontological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladimir Anisimov, took the floor. The chief gerontologist of the country decided to start the conference with the award of the Gerontological Society of the Russian Academy of Sciences for the best work on gerontology among young scientists of Russia for 2007.

The winners of the competition were Oleg Sergeevich, born in 1979, Candidate of Biological Sciences, employee of the Laboratory of Perinatal Diagnostics of Hereditary Human Diseases of the D.O. Ott Research Institute of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and Head of the Scientific and Expert Department of the Eternal Youth Foundation, St. Petersburg, and Vera Viktorovna Spider, born in 1977, Candidate of Biological Sciences, Junior Researcher at the Laboratory of Human Biochemical Genetics of the Institute of Biochemistry and Genetics of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Ufa, for a series of works on the molecular genetic foundations of longevity and polymorphism of nuclear and mitochondrial genomes in human aging. They were awarded diplomas and prizes of the Gerontological Society.

Warmly welcoming the laureates, the seminar participants gave the floor to V.N. Anisimov.

Vladimir Nikolaevich made a brilliant report on the role of the light regime in aging and the development of cancer. The speaker stressed the need to take into account the light regime in everyday life (since in the presence of light in the bedroom at night, working the night shift will not produce melatonin – one of the most important endocrine regulators of the human body), spoke about the mechanism of the internal molecular clock of the cell and their genetic control, mutations in the genes of the circadian rhythm, the risk of senile diseases, about the use of model objects in the study of the effect of melatonin on life expectancy and many other equally interesting facts.

Let us note a few more interesting, in our opinion, reports.

Firstly, the report of Alexander Mikhailovich Weisserman (Institute of Gerontology of the Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine). The author noted an interesting fact that in some reptile species, the temperature of the content (habitat) is the main factor determining gender. And this is even in the presence of sex chromosomes! (A.E. Quinn, A. Georges, S.D. Sarre, F. Guarino, T. Ezaz, J. Marshall Graves. Temperature Sex Reversal Implies Sex Gene Dosage in a Reptile// Science. 2007. V. 316. P. 411). With this fact, he drew the attention of the participants to the importance of epigenetic processes in the vital activity of organisms. Further, the speaker drew the attention of the seminar participants to the fact that in many ways the epidemiology (frequency of diseases) of type I and II diabetes, stomach cancer and even life expectancy depend on the month of a person's birth. Those born in spring (April, May) are most susceptible to diseases and have a low life expectancy, while other months (November, December, January) are the most favorable.

Secondly, a report by A.M. Olovnikov (Institute of Biochemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences), in which he spoke "About chronometric aging", about the role of the "lunar sensor" in regulating the aging process, as well as hypothetical chronomers and printers (special DNA in subtelomeric regions of chromosomes), which gradually shorten with age. The report caused a storm of admiration among the participants of the seminar, although there were doubters. Many expect that the predictions of the famous scientist will be justified again – the hypothesis will be confirmed, as it was with the telomeric theory of aging, put forward by him in 1971.

In the report of A.V. Khalyavkin (Institute of Biochemical Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences) "The signaling (non-destructive) role of the environment in the occurrence of aging", it was emphasized that antioxidants, according to recent data, increase the life span only in short-lived controls (that is, if we talk about people, then antioxidants, as "life-prolonging substances", are useful only for patients). The speaker convinced the audience that if the body is optimized in all parameters (in a multidimensional space), the body will not age.

A.N. Khokhlov (MSU) in his report "Does aging need its own program or is the existing development program quite enough for it?" he said that aging and life expectancy are not always connected. You can grow old and live for a long time, or you can not grow old and die instantly. The author argued that if a person did not age, he would live on average 700-800 years. Alexander Nikolaevich in his report cited many facts from the life of various "ageless" animals and plants and cited their maximum life expectancy (for example, a Creasote bush shrub was found, which is more than 11700 years old). The speaker is convinced that there is programmed death (for example, bamboo), but there is no programmed aging.

At the end of the seminar, a lively discussion took place on the concepts of the very concept of "aging", its causes and consequences, as well as other patterns. The speakers argued so actively that they almost forgot to adopt the resolution of the seminar.

As a result, there was a proposal to hold such seminars every three years and already within the framework of the conference (to increase the number of participants). The first conference was planned to be held in 2010.