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Mutations that affect aging: More common than we thought?

aging deleterious mutations drosophila melanogaster

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#1 Engadin

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Posted 30 September 2020 - 09:44 PM


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S O U R C E :   Phys.org

 

O P E N   A C C E S S   P R I M A L   S O U R C E :   BMC Biology  (Deleterious mutations show increasing negative effects with age in Drosophila melanogaster)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The researchers at Linköping University used fruit flies to study mutations that could contribute to ageing. Credit: Magnus Johansson/Linköping University

 

 

 

The number of mutations that can contribute to aging may be significantly higher than previously believed, according to new research on fruit flies. The study by scientists at Linköping University, Sweden, supports a new theory about the type of mutation that can lie behind aging. The results have been published in BMC Biology.

 
We live, we age and we die. Many functions of our bodies deteriorate slowly but surely as we age, and eventually an organism dies. This thought may not be very encouraging, but most of us have probably accepted that this is the fate of all living creatures—death is part of life. However, those who study evolutionary biology find it far from clear why this is the case.
 
"The evolution of aging is, in a manner of speaking, a paradox. Evolution causes continuous adaptation in organisms, but even so it has not resulted in them ceasing to age," says Urban Friberg, senior lecturer in the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology at Linköping University and leader of the study.
 
Nearly 70 years ago, evolutionary biologists proposed two theories concerning two different types of mutation that contribute to aging. Both of these mutations have a detrimental effect as the organism becomes older—which leads to aging—while they are either advantageous or neutral early in life. Researchers have, however, not been able to determine which of the two types of mutation contributes most to aging, despite experimental studies.
 
A new theory was proposed a few years ago suggesting that aging is caused by mutations with a detrimental effect early in life, and whose negative effects increase with age. Those who support this hypothesis believe that many of the mutations that arise have negative effects right from the start, compared with the normal variant of a gene.
 
 
mutationstha.jpg
 
Martin Iinatti Brengdahl, PhD student at Linköping University, examining fruit flies in a microscope. Credit: Magnus Johansson/Linköping University
 
 
 
The study now published describes experiments to test the theory of mutations that have a detrimental effect throughout life and contribute to aging. The authors used one of the most well-studied animals in the world, namely the fruit fly, or Drosophila melanogaster. They tested 20 different mutations that they had placed into the genetic material of the flies. For each individual mutation, they studied a group of flies with the mutation and a control group without it. Each mutation had a specific, visible effect, which made it easy to follow, such as a somewhat different appearance of the wings or a different shape of the eyes.

 







Also tagged with one or more of these keywords: aging, deleterious mutations, drosophila melanogaster

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