Longer living mice thanks to manipulated telomeres
15 Jun 2016 by Evoluted New Media
Scientists have created mice with longer telomeres than their counterparts, resulting in fewer signs of molecular ageing, without genetic manipulation.
Scientists have created mice with longer telomeres than their counterparts, resulting in fewer signs of molecular ageing, without genetic manipulation.
The mice, created at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), also had a lower level of cancer incidence. Telomeres are protective structures located at the ends of chromosomes that shorten as we age. When they reach a ‘critical’ length a cell becomes senescent and dies.
Dr Maria Blasco, group leader at CNIO and co-author said: “Our work also demonstrates that it is possible to generate induced pluripotent cells (iPSC) with longer telomeres that would turn into differentiated cells also with longer telomeres and that would, therefore, be better protected against damage.”
The cells with hyper-long telomeres appeared to be functioning as normal when analysed by researchers. When the tissues in the mice were measured at 0, 1, 6 and 12 months, the telomere length was still proportionally longer, even with the expected shortening. The cells had accumulated less DNA damage while also possessing a greater capacity to repair any tissue damage.
The researchers believe it is possible to generate adult tissue with longer telomeres as pluripotent stem cells can carry hyper-long versions of them. The next step will be working on a new species of mice in which the telomeres of all cells are twice as long as those in normal mice.
The research was published in Nature Communications.
