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Mutant Genes Linked to Long Life

DNA-protecting enzyme may be key to living to 100

By Jane Yager,  Newser Staff

Posted Nov 16, 2009 8:43 AM CST
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(Newser) – Scientists have spotted a link among people who live to age 100: high levels of telomerase, an enzyme that protects DNA and could possibly be simulated in life-lengthening drugs. The enzyme repairs telomeres, end sections of DNA that have been likened to plastic tips that prevent shoelaces from unraveling. In a study, centenarians and their children had higher levels of telomerase and longer telomeres than the general population, the BBC reports.

Because all the participants in the study were Ashkenazi Jews, a closely related population, some experts question whether the study results apply more broadly. One scientist warned that artificially boosting telomerase could backfire by increasing the chances of cancer-causing mutations. Besides their genetic particularities, the centenarians in the study had lower body mass indexes and higher levels of good cholesterol than the control population.

An image of DNA
An image of DNA   (Shutter Stock)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 5 comments
zackmasson
Nov 18, 2009 9:56 AM CST
Don't mess with genes till you got diamond solid evidence behind it. Sorry, probably won't happen in your life time.
Derni
Nov 17, 2009 12:47 PM CST
with the health care we have in the USA you'll be lucky to live until 100-but if you're alive and sitting in a whellchair lookin out a window..what good is that..if you can walk and get around then maybe--quality is more important that just living longer
brawne
Nov 17, 2009 5:39 AM CST
The point is --Ashkenazi Jews. They are the oldest genetic strain we have. They got rid of all the weak links long ago. When your genes go back to the Sermon on the Mount--the bad stuff has filtered out. Like addictions, pathology and cancer--they don't reproduce. So, no big deal that the people with the longest genetic thread have weeded out the weeds. Except for the Madoffs and whomever--but that is a selected trait. Meaning that it isn't selected for survival which they have down pat--but they are so beyond you guys in the survival department. Why do you think people hate Jew? Cause their religion--who cares? Their DNA. It's the oldest. And, it would be very cool for you to learn what an Ashkenazi Jew is--east --way east and that they survived the holocaust which unfairly got rid of all the nice people--like the plague. So, they are pretty tough. And when Stalin threw them all out of western Russia--the Settlement of the Pale-- they moved to Chicago. No shit, they really did. A fact that I find fascinating because in Israel an Ashkenazi is considered less than cause Israel is western European Jews. Sorta like when I say that I'm from Tennessee; everyone thinks I'm a dolt.

 
DNA • enzyme • longevity • telomeres • Ashkenazi Jews • telomerase

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