Researchers from the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), a center of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the Institue of Evolutionary Biology have found a collection of genes that determine the lifespan of a mammal.
The researchers have found 2,000 genes that determine human lifespan after they reviewed 57 genomes from various mammals.
The human lifespan is an average of 70-80 years old, with the most senior people reaching 120. Scientists have long debated on what determines the human lifespan. Most studies have looked particularly into human genes. However, this approach only shows us the variations in human longevity and fails to look into the variation among mammals.
The researchers have found genes that are part of physiological processes that maintain life in mammals. These processes are inflammatory responses, blood coagulation, DNA repair, among others. The genes that affect these processes have an impact on the range of lifespans in humans.
According to Arcadi Navarro, the principal investigator at the Evolutionary Genomics Laboratory at the IBE, there are many differences in the human genomes that determine longevity in people. However, evolution could have caused the genetic structure that influences lifespan. Therefore, studying genes that cause longevity in all mammals enables us to identify key characteristics of longevity.
Researchers realized that proteome, protein the genome expresses, destabilize after a certain age in all mammals, though its reason is unclear. The destabilization of proteins leads to age-related physiological decline.
While all mammals experience the destabilization of proteins, it occurs with varying ages among mammals. Mammals with a longer life span have more stable amino acid-containing proteins than those with shorter lives.
Gerard Muntane, a study co-author, explains that a more stable protein lasts longer without degradation. Researchers have found this characteristic in some of the age-related genes that they isolate.
The team suggests healthcare workers could use this study in therapies for age-related illnesses. Navarro adds that it could also apply to human health. However, most experts ignore this field of evolutionary biology.
Muntane concluded that people could use the same methodology to look into any aspect of human disease or health like cancer, cholesterol, blood pressure, and other disorders.