Monthly Archives: January 2015

The Bowhead whale may harbor the secret to longevity, according to a new study that describes its genome.

Native to the Arctic, the bowheadis big and strong and can live 200 years, possibly the longest lifespan of any mammal. But why does it live so long? That question has intrigued University of Liverpool scientist Joao Pedro Magalhaes for a long time.

Why do human beings age slower than other primates?" he says. "Why do mice age so much faster than humans or whales? And likewise, why do bowhead whales seem to live longer than human beings and seem to be protected against some age-related disease like cancer?

Magalhaes says this remains a mystery. But in sequencing the genome, the scientists looked for patterns comparing the bowhead to other closely related, but shorter-lived species, such as the Minke whale. Magalhaes says the team focused on identifying genes with bowhead specific mutations.

We looked for genes that are duplicated that is, they have multiple copies in the bowhead whale, but not in other related species. And this revealed a number of promising leads.

In the journal Cell Reports, Magalhaes and colleagues describe alterations in bowhead genes related to cell division, DNA repair, cancer and aging. Magalhaes says different long-lived species use different tricks to evolve a long life span. He wants to uncover the natural mechanism that triggers that process.

If I can figure out what are these tricks in the bowhead and what makes them live so long and protects against diseases, we can then try to apply them to human beings, which could involve pharmacological interventions or pharmacological targeting of particular genes," he said. "It could involve gene therapy.

The next step, he says, is to breed mice with bowhead whale genes, to determine the importance of different longevity and age-related mutations. But the sequence has other applications, too: understanding population dynamics and genetic diversity can help conservationists working to protect the species, which is threated by habitat loss and toxins in the environment.

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Study: Bowhead Whale Genome May Hold Secret to Longevity

Scientists are hoping the fountain of youth might be hidden inside a whale species that can live up to 200 years.

Joao Pedro de Magalhaes and his team at the University of Liverpool sequenced the genome of the bowhead whale, the longest living mammal on earth. The team wanted to understand why they live so long and don't succumb to some of the same illnesses as humans do earlier in life.

"One of the big mysteries of biology is understanding species differences including species differences in aging," Magalhaes told CBS News.

"For example, mice age 20 to 30 times faster than human beings and we don't know why ... Even primates which are closely related to us age considerably faster than human beings," he said. "There has to be some genetic basis to why humans age slower than chimpanzees for instance which are very genetically very similar to us. Likewise, there has to be some genetic basis as to why bowhead whales live so long and appear protected from diseases."

With a 1,000 times more cells than a human, the whale should have a much higher probability of cell death and disease. It doesn't.

In their findings published in the journal Cell Reports, the team found as many as 80 candidate genes that may help protect the whale from cancer or contribute to it being the longest living mammal on earth. The team found that the whales have genes related to DNA repair, as well as those regulating how cells proliferate, that differ from those found in humans.

"We know DNA damage and DNA mutation are important for cancer. So when we find genes related to DNA repair and DNA damage responses, we think maybe this could be involved in longevity and disease resistance of the bowhead," Magalheas said. "In that sense, you don't find a fountain of youth in the genome but you find some promising leads."

There is a huge industry searching for that elixir which could help humans live longer. Some research has gone into finding what is called longevity genes that could lead to new drug therapies while other research promotes such things as exercise and healthy eating to extend your life.

Two groups which funded most of the whale research -- the Life Extension Foundation and the Methuselah Foundation -- are seeking that magic potion. Life Extension focuses on such things as hormonal and nutritional supplements to fight aging while Methuselah is heavily invested in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine "to create a world where 90 year olds can be as health as 50 year olds, by 2030."

Methuselah's co-founder and CEO Dave Gobel said it invested in the whale research as part of its "hypothesis that the best way to find out how to become longevity outliers is to study those who already are genetic outliers within mammalian species" and then find "what genetic complexes, pathways seem most common among these outliers and to explore what they do, how they act, and what if any advantages can be derived from them to apply in humans."

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Could a 200-year-old whale offer clues to help humans live longer?

Researchers studied the unique genetic patterns of the bowhead whale The world's longest-lived mammal with a lifespan of more than 200 years Identified unique genes that help them avoid diseases, including cancer And now scientists wants to use genes to prolong human life

By Khaleda Rahman for MailOnline

Published: 13:44 EST, 4 January 2015 | Updated: 17:59 EST, 5 January 2015

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Scientists may have found the key to prolonging human life after discovering the genes that give the world's longest lived mammals a lifespan of more than 200 years.

By studying the genetic patterns of the bowhead whale, researchers found the unique genes linked to resisting cancer and repairing DNA damage.

Most mammals die well before reaching the age of 100, but scientists have long tried to understand how bowheads outlive other whales species andavoid illnesses including heart disease and cancer.

Scientists may have discovered the key to prolonging human life after studying the genes of bowhead whales

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Secret to long life for humans may lie in DNA of the bowhead whale that lives for 200 years

In The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Marvin the robot is left outside the time machine and has to wait for millions of years while his friends travel through millennia in an instant. But far from relishing his long life, Marvin is thrown into depression: The first ten million years were the worst. And the second ten million: they were the worst, too. The third ten million I didn't enjoy at all. After that, I went into a bit of a decline.

Philosopher Martin Heidegger argues that we need the threat of death to motivate us to do anything. If we could live forever, we wouldnt fill our time by completing PhDs and travelling the world, but would spend eternity waiting lazily for the next millennium to get started on our life goals. Two hundred years is still finite, so we might manage to make headway in a career eventually, but those extra 120 years may not make any difference to lifetime achievements. The only hope is that there are enough box sets to last us.

Obsolescence

In ten years time, the 15-year-old geeks who are glued to their smart watches will bring their coding skills to the working world, shunting older employees even further down the pecking order. Those who were born without childhood access to iPhones and the internet cannot keep pace with the fast-paced habits of the next generation, and so well be displaced by their computer-focused minds. Anyone over the age of 30 has felt a creeping sense of obsolescence, so once youre into triple figures, prepare to enjoy existence as a living antique.

Generational conflict

Overcrowding problems will begin in the home as families struggle to maintain the peace between five generations of relatives. Seventy-year-olds may be fond of their grandkids, but the fourth generation of screaming youngsters are more of an annoyance than blessing. And the value of blood relatives cant outweigh the frustration of dealing with great-great-great uncle Alberts centuries-old values. Playing happy families is difficult enough with three generations lets not make it any harder.

The end of romance

Marriages are already under the strain from our ever-increasing lifespan. As 60-somethings realise that theyve still got another 20 or 30 years to endure alongside their significant other, the silver splitters have helped bump up divorce rates later in life. A 200-year lifespan would firmly destroy any lasting fantasies of romance, as made-for-each-other soul mates struggle to find the conversation to fill the evenings of 170 years of monogamy. If we want to live to be 200, well have to kiss goodbye to the idea of true love. Marriage is for decades, not for centuries.

The practical matters of population growth, retirement, and the inevitable extension of childhood into the mid-40s make the matter of extending life seem even more grim. But from the perspective of personal happiness, we should give up hopes of defying death and be content with our eighty-odd years. Life is short, and we should keep it that way while enjoying what we can of it. The horror of a 200th birthday part is a fate worse than death.

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A 200-year life is a fate worse than death