Science

[trolls' bane]

I read a very interesting article in Cosmos Magazine called "Unravelling the secret of ageing" (Issue 17, p. 74).

Just to give an idea of what it's about, I'll quote the headline of the article:
"More than 30 years after discovering an extraordinary enzyme that prevents the threads of our DNA from fraying, Elizabeth Blackburn is still straightening out the curly question of why our cells age."

Basically, at the tips of our chromosomes are long segments of DNA (telomeres) consisting of the same three base pairs repeated possibly fifty or more times across the segment, called telogenes. As the cell divides, one of these is lost. After subsequent divisions and subsequent losses, when the telogenes are used up, the cell-division loss moves on to the next thing along the chromosomes: our actual active genome. This eating away at our genes could possibly be the reason for which we age. The enzyme telomerase can restore the missing ends of the telomeres.


Some of you may recall that I mentioned another article on longevity in Scientific American. I'll revisit that issue and summarize it. The two articles represent two basic facets of genetic engineering or modification: the telomerase article would be more applicable as somatic gene modification (in other words, can be used and effects felt in vivo), and the other article on the SIRT4 gene family would be more likely categorized with germline gene modification (meaning, basically, a benign sort of eugenics).