The human body hides secrets that science is constantly trying to uncover. Areas such as the precise functioning of our mind, the truth about consciousness, life and death, have yet to be explained and explored, and every day we progress a little in understanding. Aging is another area that raises questions: for some time now we have been striving hard to try to keep ourselves or look young. The question is always the same: why do we age?
A recent study published in iScience called "Common features of aging do not occur in Drosophila raised without a bacterial microbiome" shows the potential to hack the genes that regulate the aging mechanism of the human body.
Here's what the study and the experts say
Edward Giniger, PhD, senior researcher at NIH, the US National Institute of Health, says, “For decades, scientists have been developing a list of common aging genes. These genes are thought to control the process of aging throughout the animal kingdom, from worms to mice to humans. We were shocked to find that only about 30% of these genes can be directly involved in the aging process. We hope these results will help medical researchers better understand the forces behind various age-related ailments. '
The key points of the study (read it! It's here) about genes:
- Gene expression changes during aging are microbiome responses at least 70% of the time;
- Metabolism, immunity and stress response as well they are related to the microbiome;
- The study was conducted on Drosophila, a type of fruit fly.
Arvind Kumar Shukla, PhD, postdoctoral fellow and lead author of the study, said, “We've taken a big leap forward for Drosophila. In humans, it would be the equivalent of gaining around 20 years of life. We were caught off guard and wondered why this species takes so long to die. "
There are some genes that actually regulate the body's internal clock, and they are far fewer than we thought. In the future, we plan to identify which genes are truly linked to the aging process.
If we want to fight aging, we need to know precisely which genes regulate our clock.
Edward Giniger
