Delayed aging
Naked diggers gave confirmation of the theory of aging "on loan"
Zarina Zomanova, L!FE
In naked diggers and their closest relatives in adulthood, the activity of a number of proteins that work intensively in rodents with a short lifespan decreases.
German biologists have established how the genes and metabolism of naked diggers and closely related species provide these animals with longevity. Using this material, they found confirmation of the theory of aging, according to which the same processes can help and hinder the survival of the organism at different stages of development. A preprint of the article Long-lived rodents reveal signatures of positive selection in genes associated with lifespan and eusociality can be found at biorXiv.org .
The authors analyzed the expression of genes throughout life in 17 species of rodents – the Syrian hamster, house mouse, chinchilla, rat, guinea pig, naked digger and its closest relatives. Of these, diggers and chinchillas can be considered long-livers. Diggers are able to live up to 20, and naked diggers even up to 30 years. The maximum life span of a chinchilla is 17 and a half years.
It turned out that in diggers and chinchillas, some elements of the mTOR metabolic pathway regulating cell growth and division, as well as the work of mitochondria under oxidative stress and autophagy – self-purification of cells and tissues from spent elements - are silenced during aging. In mice, rats and other rodents with a short lifespan, these processes are regulated differently. The authors believe that such a difference in the work of the mTOR path is the main reason for the longevity of diggers and chinchillas.
The data obtained in the framework of the study speak in favor of the theory of aging, called antagonistic pleiotropy. According to her, the work of the same gene at different stages of development can have opposite effects on the body. If the protein encoded by the gene helped the animal to grow and survive, then this variant of the gene will be preserved and passed on to descendants. However, the same protein can reduce the viability of an individual at a later age, when it has already stopped reproducing. This side effect will not be eliminated from the population in any way, since it does not affect the number of descendants.
It turns out that a number of genes help the body as if in debt: first increases vitality, and then reduces it and causes aging. Theoretically, the negative consequences of the functions of such proteins can be combated by reducing their activity with age. According to new data, this is exactly what naked diggers and their closest relatives are doing.
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