Why do common shrews live for only two years, while bowhead whales survive for two centuries? And could the answer give us hints as to how to extend our own, human life spans?
The maximum life span of each species is estimated using the age of its longest-living member, and these vary by orders of magnitude among mammals. Now, scientists propose that “epigenetics” could at least partly explain these differences. They posted their yet-unreviewed findings in November to the preprint database bioRxiv.
While “genetics” is the study of genes, “epigenetics” is the study of chemical modifications to genes that boost or limit their expression, controlling which genes are switched on or off. These modifications have long been linked to aging, but the new study suggests they also play a role in determining maximum age.
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