Amazing stuff! Towards reversing the ageing process!
"Lengthening the long stretch of repetitive DNA at the ends of chromosomes in the gut cells of zebrafish reversed signs of ageing throughout the organisms. The finding suggests that the gut might control ageing in all tissues. The targeted treatment extended the lifespan of the fish and improved overall health. Researchers suspect that the gastrointestinal system might release signalling molecules that affect the whole body when ageing is reversed, preventing inflammation and damage caused by gut bacteria." (nature briefing)
From the abstract:
"Telomere shortening is a hallmark of aging and is counteracted by telomerase. As in humans, the zebrafish gut is one of the organs with the fastest rate of telomere decline, triggering early tissue dysfunction during normal zebrafish aging and in prematurely aged telomerase mutants. However, whether telomere-dependent aging of an individual organ, the gut, causes systemic aging is unknown. Here we show that tissue-specific telomerase expression in the gut can prevent telomere shortening and rescues premature aging of tert−/−. Induction of telomerase rescues gut senescence and low cell proliferation, while restoring tissue integrity, inflammation and age-dependent microbiota dysbiosis. Averting gut aging causes systemic beneficial impacts, rescuing aging of distant organs such as reproductive and hematopoietic systems. Conclusively, we show that gut-specific telomerase expression extends the lifespan of tert−/− by 40%, while ameliorating natural aging. Our work demonstrates that gut-specific rescue of telomerase expression leading to telomere elongation is sufficient to systemically counteract aging in zebrafish."
Fig. 1: Gut-specific and Cre-mediated tert expression rescues gut aging phenotypes.
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