238 genes that yeast lives longer without
Scientists have discovered 238 longevity genes in yeast DNA
Geneticists have found more than two hundred genes in the DNA of ordinary food yeast, the shutdown of which leads to a significant increase in the lifespan of these fungi (so in fact these are "aging genes", not longevity – VM), and in the future – to prolong human life, according to an article published in the journal Cell Metabolism (McCormick et al., A Comprehensive Analysis of Replicative Lifespan in 4,698 Single-Gene Deletion Strains Uncovers Preserved Mechanisms of Aging – VM).
"As part of this study, we tried to understand how the entire genome as a whole affects aging, and what is the process of senility of the body. It gave us a fulcrum from which we can start by studying the totality of processes affecting yeast aging," said Brian Kennedy from the Buck Institute of Aging in Novato (USA) in a press release Mapping the Genes that Increase Lifespan.
Kennedy and his colleagues were able to discover these genes thanks to months and years of continuous analysis of small differences in the work of genes and longevity in almost five thousand strains of yeast, from whose DNA only one gene was removed.
Scientists estimated the lifespan of yeast in an extraordinary way – they monitored how many daughter cells the fungus produced before it stopped multiplying. To speed up this process, biologists even created a special microscope that independently sorted and counted cells in a test tube.
The product of these calculations and research was the discovery of 238 genes that somehow influenced the lifespan and fertility of yeast. The most interesting of them was a site called LOS1, associated with the transportation of amino acids to the assembly site of protein molecules and DNA repair. Its shutdown, as Kennedy says, led to the most noticeable increase in the number of offspring in maternal yeast.
The most interesting thing is that this gene is linked to another important part of the DNA – the mTOR gene, which is turned on when an animal or fungus goes on a diet. In recent years, Kennedy explains, scientists have been very actively interested in why calorie restriction prolongs the life of some animals, but does not work on others, and the study of LOS1 may provide an answer to this question.
"Almost half of these genes that affect life expectancy are also found in mammalian DNA. In theory, all these DNA sites can be the "targets" that can be hit by life-prolonging drugs. Now it remains for us to understand which of them can be used in this capacity," Kennedy concludes.
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09.10.2015