Genomics  

The genome of the first large whale has now been sequenced.  Bowhead whales can live for 200 years, and continued research into the mechanisms that control their aging may lead to advances in human aging and cancer research.

A whale that can live over 200 years with little evidence of age-related disease may provide untapped insights into how to live a long and healthy life. In the latest issue of the journal Cell Reports, researchers present the complete bowhead whale genome and identify key differences compared to other mammals. Alterations in bowhead genes related to cell division, DNA repair, cancer, and aging may have helped increase its longevity and cancer resistance.

"Our understanding of species' differences in longevity is very poor, and thus our findings provide novel candidate genes for future studies," says senior author Dr. João Pedro de Magalhães, of the University of Liverpool, in the UK. "My view is that species evolved different 'tricks' to have a longer lifespan, and by discovering the 'tricks' used by the bowhead we may be able to apply those findings to humans in order to fight age-related diseases."

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Also, large whales with over 1000 times more cells than humans do not seem to have an increased risk of cancer, suggesting the existence of natural mechanisms that can suppress cancer more effectively than those of other animals.

Magalhães and his team would next like to breed mice that will express various bowhead genes, with the hopes of determining the importance of different genes for longevity and resistance to diseases.

"Our understanding of species' differences in longevity is very poor, and thus our findings provide novel candidate genes for future studies."

They also note that because the bowhead's genome is the first among large whales to be sequenced, the new information may help reveal physiological adaptations related to size. For example, whale cells have a much lower metabolic rate than those of smaller mammals, and the researchers found changes in one specific gene involved in thermoregulation (UCP1) that may be related to metabolic differences in whale cells.

The genetic and molecular mechanisms that control longevity remain largely unexplained. Given the declining costs of DNA sequencing, de novo genome sequencing is rapidly becoming affordable. The sequencing of genomes of long-lived species will allow for comparative genomics to be employed to study the evolution of longevity and help us understand, and eventually potentially control the phenomenon.


SOURCE  Cell Press via EurekAlert

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 Aging  

Why do we grow old? Integrative Biologist João Pedro de Magalhães explains what aging is and how we can extend our lifespan.

I Body Why do we grow old? Integrative Biologist João Pedro de Magalhãeexplains what aging is and how we can extend our lifespan.

Aging has a profound impact on human society and modern medicine, yet it remains a major puzzle of biology. The goal of de Magalhães' work is to help understand the genetic, cellular, and molecular mechanisms of ageing.

"In the long term, I would like my work to help ameliorate age-related diseases and preserve health. No other biomedical field has so much potential to improve human health as research on the basic mechanisms of ageing," he states.

Fascinated by the genome and by the opportunities its sequencing opened, de Magalhães then did a postdoc with genomics pioneer George Church at Harvard Medical School in Boston. There, he helped developed high-throughput approaches for studying ageing, including computational tools and databases, statistical models of mortality, and comparative genomics methods for investigating the evolution of longevity.

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"If you could slow down the process of aging by just seven years, this would reduce in half the incidences of age-related diseases at every single age," says de Magalhães.  "This would have a massive impact on human lifespan, and on human health."

The video was animated by Jorge Cham and produced by Piled Higher and Deeper in partnership with The Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group at The University of Liverpool. Funding provided by The University of Liverpool.

A more in depth lecture on João Pedro de Magalhães on recent advances on the biology and genetics of aging, including state-of-the-art genome-wide approaches, caloric restriction mimetics and systems biology methods employed by his lab is featured below.

SOURCE  Piled Higher and Deeper

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