Introduction
In the 16th century, rumors of the Fountain of Youth had spread like wildfire. The thought of immortality, and everlasting youth had fascinated many old, and young adventurers. Most Eukaryotic organism cells are affected by a biological process known as aging. Effect of aging may include the advent of illness, disease, and ultimately death. Death, this fear of end existence had enthralled many people on the quest for prolonged longevity. Therefore, how do we extend our lifespan? Where is this “Fountain of Youth” ? Although the latter question may forever remain a lucrative theory. Perhaps the answer to prolonged longevity may reside on a little known region of a chromosomes, the telomeres.
By utilizing, and , if possible, modifying this special DNA structure, one may see a reduction of age related illness, diseases, and signs of aging. In this review of human telomere, we will discuss the roles and functions of the telomere, its structure, and the relation of telomere length to aging and tumorigenesis.
Role and Functions of The Telomeres
Telomere are special DNA structure that consist of repetitive nucleotide sequences, which serves as a “cap” to protect the ends of the chromosomes. These repetitive sequences can range from thousands of base pairs in Vertebrates to about a few hundreds of base pairs in yeast cells (Oeseburg, et al. 2009). Located at the ends of the chromosomes, the telomeres serves as a biological life line for cells. Once the telomeres reach a certain length, the cell will cease to divide. Oeseburg, et al (2009) suggested that the telomere has a crucial length, once reached, it could result in chromosome end-to-end fusion and chromosome dysfunction; which may eventually lead to cell apoptosis, c...
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There are still many unknowns to the cause of an immortal cell line, but scientists do know it correlates with a mutation within the cell. In the case of Henrietta, the cells that were taken from her came from a tumor she had. These cells were place in vitro and began to divide endlessly and rapidly. The reason why the cells divided so rapidly was that Henrietta also had HPV and syphilis, which could have made the cells even stronger. The more prevalent question is why did her cells continue to divide after she had died? This question still has some gray areas, but scientists have a very good understanding on this topic. When the cells were kept in ideal conditions they continued to divide because just like cancerous cells the cells regulatory system malfunctions and apoptosis does not occur. In regular cells,...
Progeria occurs because there is a mutation in LMNA, a gene that produces specific protein, lamin A protein, that plays an integral role in holding a cell’s nucleus together. This mutation leads to the production of progerin, a protein that causes the nucleus to be unstable. With this instability comes “the process of premature aging and disease in Progeria.(1)” The accumulation of the protein Progerin also affects telomeres, proteins that contribute to the aging process of cells and leads to telomere disfunction.
“Stem Cells: The Future of Medicine.” Medschool.umaryland.edu. University of Maryland School of Medicine Web 14 Nov 2013
Common sense seems to dictate that we are all going to die one day. As we all get older we crave to keep our youth, and to stay young forever is the ultimate dream. The thought of a possible immortality is just an added benefit. Even though we have strived towards this goal for centuries, have we obtained advances in successfully staying young forever? In Bill Gifford’s book “Spring Chicken: Stay Young Forever (Or Die Trying)” he explores these ideas of life and aging further. In this novel, he goes on a journey to try and debunk the mysteries and questions behind the new science of aging. He gathers information from tests and scientists from around the country to discover what really works to prevent or delay aging and what is just a hopeful hoax. He helps us figure out why we age and why aging
Research suggests that lobsters may not slow down, weaken or lose fertility with age, and that older lobsters may be more fertile than younger lobsters. This longevity may be due to telomerase, an enzyme that repairs long repetitive sections of DNA sequences at the ends of chromosomes, referred to as telomeres. Telomerase is expressed by most vertebrates during embryonic stages, but is generally absent from adult stages of life.[13] However, unlike most vertebrates, lobsters express telomerase as adults through most tissue, which has been suggested to be related to their longevity.[14][15][16] Lobster longevity is limited by their size. Moulting requires metabolic energy and the larger the lobster, the more energy is needed; 10 to 15% of lobsters die of exhaustion during moulting, while in older lobsters, moulting ceases and the exoskeleton degrades or collapses entirely leading to death.
The notion of immortality has been adapted and altered throughout generations and eras. One thing, however,
Life longevity, a controversial subject that everyone has been trying to figure out. A subject that has most of the American society obsessed with the idea that we are capable of living many more decades and the other half of society feeling that it’s a bad idea for the society. When it comes to the findings of life longevity there's still not a certain answer to what causes it, as of now there's only assumptions. This research has been going on throughout many years and has been one of the hardest research to crack down. Not even the centenarians knew what was the secret that kept them living such a long life, many would say it was elixirs that they took, others believed there
An ordinary human body contains approximately one trillion cells and precisely 46 chromosomes in each cell. However, the human body can be altered by a genetic mutation. Over the course of history, genetic mutations have had a large impact on the human race. They have brought harm to numerous amounts of people. Cancer, in particular, is one of the most lethal diseases. Cancer begins when a portion of DNA inside a chromosome is damaged, causing a cell to mutate. Then, the mutated cell reproduces multiple times and creates a tumor. Afterwards, cancer cells break off of the tumor, enter the bloodstream, and disperse throughout the body. If the cells break off, the tumor is considered malignant - this type of cancer is very difficult to cure. Many patients today stay optimistic for a medication to heal cancer. It is imperative to address a few of the causes and effects of cancer in order to gain a general knowledge of genetic mutations.
Aging affects all living organisms, which is characterized by the loss of cellular homeostasis causing systemic cellular dysfunction. In fact, both the mitochondrion and the actin cytoskeleton show age-associated declines in functions. As an organism age, mitochondria accumulate mtDNA mutations, which result in mitochondrial dysfunction. The actin cytoskeleton also declines with age. This affects establishment and maintenance of cell polarity as well as cellular and intracellular movement, which in turn contributes to age-associated declines in systems including the immune system and skeletal muscle. In addition, many age-related pathologies like neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, display dysfunction in mitochondria and actin. Interestingly, Dr. Liza Pon’s
SÍTAR, M.E., YANAR, K., AYDIN, S. and ÇAKATAY, U., CURRENT ASPECTS OF AGEING THEORIES AND CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO MECHANISMS. .
...requency in Human Y Chromosomal UTY Gene. OMICS A Journal of Integrative Biology Volume 15, Number 3, 2011
Increased life expectancies have many reconsidering whether the fountain of youth is merely a legend. For many families, longer life spans have allowed them to spend more time with loved ones, time that may not paint the picture imagined.
The scientific and medical progress of DNA as been emense, from involving the identification of our genes that trigger major diseases or the creation and manufacture of drugs to treat these diseases. DNA has many significant uses to society, health and culture of today. One important area of DNA research is that used for genetic and medical research. Our abi...
Longevity refers not only to prolonging an individual’s age, but also retaining physical and mental abilities in old age. Conventional wisdom tells us that the limits of human longevity are more or less fixed, and that growing old is naturally related with physical decline. Yet evolutio...