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Aging erodes genetic control, but it’s flexible

By Guest PostDecember 8, 2013Scienceage, aging, brown university, enzyme called sir2, erode, ethan tobias, flow of chromatin, fruit flies, genetic control, guyu du, heterochromatin, jason wood, journal aging, life cycle, nan jiang, nicola neretti, pev, phenomenon, position effect variegation, protein sir2, rachel whitaker, stephen helfand, strands of dna, tissue

In yeast at least, the aging process appears to reduce an organism’s ability to silence certain genes that need to be silenced. Now researchers at Brown University who study the biology of aging have shown that the loss of genetic control occurs in fruit flies as well. Results appear online in the journal Aging.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Biologists at Brown University have found a way to measure the effects of aging by watching the ebb and flow of chromatin, a structure along strands of DNA that either silences or permits gene expression. In several newly published experiments they show that gene silencing via chromatin in fruit flies declines with age. (more…)

Edited RNA + invasive DNA add individuality

A study in Nature Communications finds that an enzyme that edits RNA may loosen the genome’s control over invasive snippets of DNA that affect how genes are expressed. In fruit flies, that newly understood mechanism appears to contribute to differences among individuals such as eye color and life span.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The story of why we are all so different goes well beyond the endless mixing and matching of DNA through breeding. A new study in the journal Nature Communications, for instance, reports a new molecular mechanism of individual variation found in fruit flies that uses components operating in a wide variety of species, including humans. (more…)

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Aging erodes genetic control, but it’s flexible

Edited RNA + invasive DNA add individuality