This week scientists have been able to pin-point on an apparent key to long-life. Telomeres: an inherited cellular repair mechanism, that helps prevent disease and aging. Telomeres are the ends of chromosomes that have been compared to the plastic tips of shoelaces, that prevent their unraveling. They were already known to have played an essential role in aging, and the discovery of telomeres has led to this year's Nobel Prize in medicine.
The latest study, which focused on Askenazi Jews, finds that those who lived the longest had inherited a hyperactive version of an enzyme called telomerase, that rebuilds telomeres. In essence, centenarians seem to have a highly skilled body mechanic who works 24/7 to repair the hardware that runs the body. However, a normal person's body cellular control system is left to diminish over time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centenarian
Telomeres are short bits of specialized DNA that cap chromosomes, which tell a cell what to do. Over your lifetime, cells divide over and over to keep the body alive, but with each cell division the telomeres get shorter. Eventually, when they become too short, the cells stop dividing and lapse into a state called cell senescence. Vital tissues are no longer produced, and organs begin to fail. All this was known, for telomeres have been the focus of anti-aging studies for years. Although, there still is no "Longevity Pill" available yet.
http://www.biochemweb.org/senescence.shtml
"Humans of exceptional longevity are better able to maintain the length of their telomeres," said Yousin Suh, associate professor of medicine and genetics at Albert Einstein College of Medicine at Yeshiva University. "And we found that they owe their longevity , at least in part, to advantageous variants of genes involved in telomere maintenance. Our findings suggest that telomere length and variants of telomerase genes combine to help people live very long lives, perhaps by protecting them from the diseases of old age," Suh said. "We're now trying to understand the mechanism by which genetic variants of telomerase maintain the telomere in length in centenarians. Ultimately, it maybe possible to develop drugs that mimic the telomerase that our centenarians have been blessed with."
http://www.einstein.yu.edu/longenity/page.aspx
Comments
the human body is not programmed to die but to live, so there is no genetically timed age to die, however, there are differences in the ability to repair, which is also why it is good to avoid damage, such as alcohol and radiation, ultraviolet radiation, stress, overweight or poor diet etc. The repair mechanism obviously works less well under such stress and chemical disruption, not to mention the physical damage.
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