Scientists have discovered a set of genes that influence the aging process and some is transmitted by mothers to their children. If an error is in this piece of DNA you will age prematurely. The result is that you not only get more wrinkles, but also that you live less long.
Swedish and German researchers found that damage to the mitochondria, the tiny power plants in our cells that convert food into energy, accelerates aging ailments. This damage is caused not only by environmental factors in your life, but also by genetic mutations passed by your mother.
Serious consequences
Normal and damaged DNA is passed down from generation to generation. The DNA affects how we develop comes from both parents and is in the nucleus of the cell, the genes in the mitochondria (mDNA) standing there completely separate from and come only from your mother. The researchers studied mice and found that damage to mDNA can result in severe genetic diseases. Even minor damage to this can accelerate the aging process.
Various factors
The Swedish Professor Nils-Goran Larsson who worked on the study, “The mitochondrial DNA from your mother influenced your own aging process. If you mDNA inherit mutations with your mother, you become older quicker. Most damage is caused by environmental factors, which means that inherited mDNA damage never be the only explanation for the aging process, but it is an important part of. ”
Better treatment?
Damaged mDNA was associated with a series of age-related disorders as heart problems, diabetes and dementia. The older you get, the more susceptible mDNA for damage. If you inherited mutations add up natural damage, which can result in premature aging. It is the researchers is not yet clear to what extent damaged mDNA of mother-to-child transmitted affects the aging process. This research may help scientists to slow the aging process with medication.