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To rewrite the list of genes linked to aging

2021-06-29T02:36:57.500Z


(HANDLE) Only 30% of the genes linked to aging would actually be involved in regulating the biological clock, while the remaining 70% would change their activity in response to the bacteria in the microbiome. The list of genes linked to aging must be rewritten: only 30% of them would really be involved in the regulation of the biological clock, while the remaining 70% would change their activity not for t


Only 30% of the genes linked to aging would actually be involved in regulating the biological clock, while the remaining 70% would change their activity in response to the bacteria in the microbiome.

The list of genes linked to aging must be rewritten: only 30% of them would really be involved in the regulation of the biological clock, while the remaining 70% would change their activity not for the time that passes but in response to the bacteria that make up the microbiome of the organism.

This is demonstrated by a study on the fruit fly, the animal model most used in genetics laboratories to study aging. 

The findings are published in the iScience journal by researchers from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). "For decades, scientists have compiled the list of genes thought to control the aging process throughout the animal kingdom, from worms to mice to humans," says researcher Edward Giniger. "We were shocked to find that only 30% of these genes would regulate the internal clock of animals," while all the others only seem to mirror the organism's response to bacteria. "We hope these findings will help medical research better understand the forces behind many age-related diseases."

The discovery was born almost by chance, during a study on midges aimed at understanding the role of the microbiome in the overactivity of the immune system that causes neurological damage in many diseases related to brain aging. To shed some light on the matter, the researchers raised newborn flies by giving them antibiotics to eliminate the microbiome.

They thus observed that the bacteria-free flies lived longer, 63 days against the 57 of the untreated flies: "it's a big leap, the equivalent of 20 years of life for humans", specifies the researcher Arvind Kumar Shukla. The analyzes conducted on the insects treated at 10, 30 and 45 days of life indicate that the activity of their genes changes very little over time: it remains practically unchanged for 70% of the genes believed to be associated with aging and which instead could be linked to the response to bacteria (in fact they are involved in the control of stress and immunity).

The greater longevity of the treated flies would be due to the remaining 30% of the aging genes (linked to the control of the sleep-wake cycle, to the sense of smell and to the exoskeleton that surrounds insects), whose activity changes more slowly over time compared to control gnats.

Source: ansa

All tech articles on 2021-06-29

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