DREAMSTIME, TOMASZ PARYS
Aging is associated with loss of an epigenetic marker that helps control gene expression, according to new research published today (June 11) in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, with a centenarian carrying some 7 percent fewer methylated DNA bases than a newborn. Researchers posit that reductions in methylation may be one of the mechanisms underlying the aging process.
“It’s one of the first studies to look at aging from an epigenetic point of view,” said Willis Li, at the University of California, San Diego, who did not participate in the research. Other research, including Li’s own in Drosophila, has shown that the amount of heterochromatin—histone modifications that result in tight chromosome packing—also appears to decline with an organism’s age. The new study further ...
