AGEING :: Telomerase, PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS & EPIGENETICS
The body’s stem cells, which retain their youthful qualities, normally make an enzyme called telomerase that builds telomeres back up again. But when telomeres can’t be maintained, tissues age before their time. A new study may offer a breakthrough in treating "dyskeratosis congenita" and other telomere diseases, in which cells age prematurely.
1 of 6: Key to Chromosome Immortality
|
|
New technology in stem cell biology is to take skin cells from patients with genetic blood disorders and return them to an embryonic-like state, wherein they regain the ability to form any type of cell in the body.
Scientists then study this process of going back to an embryonic-like state, and then see how the cells develop into different tissues (blood cells, muscle, nerves) will lead to a better understanding of what is going wrong in cells carrying these disease-causing mutations. |
2 of 6: making pluripotent stem cells
|
|
With the capacity to form any tissue in the human body, induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPSCs, are critical to the work of the UC San Diego Stem Cell program in studying disease and potential cures - but how are they made? This short primer outlines the basic steps to how these special cells are derived.
|
3 of 6: lets explore epigenetics
|
|
WE know all about how DNA bases can code for an organism's traits, but did you know there's more influencing phenotype than just the bases?
Lets Explore epigenetics with the Amoeba Sisters by learning about a few types of epigenetic marks and some examples of them in action |
4 of 6: Telomerase: Resetting the biological clock
5 OF 6 :: WHAT IS EPIGENETICSloop structure of telomeres ( at the ends of our chromosomes )
Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Telomere.png
6 of 6 : enzmye called telomerase keeps re-building telomers
|
Shoelace-like caps at the end of chromosomes, called telomeres, are one of the ways that cells can tell how old they are. As a cell ages, these telomeres get shorter and shorter. A region of chromosome 5 helps the body regulate the length of these telomeres by producing a protein called telomerase. As Dr Lynne Cox explains, by better understanding the process by which this happens we can better understand how cells age, and how too much telomerase can lead to cancer. Dr Lynne Cox runs a lab at the University of Oxford investigating the molecular biology of ageing. Genetics is your genes. And each gene has a unique sequence that makes a protein that does something in your body. A genetic mutation is a hardcopy change in one or more parts of that sequence. This could just make you, you. Or it could contribute to a genetic disease. An epigenetic change also changes a gene’s DNA - but not at the "sequence level".
Instead, special marks are added or removed to change how a protein works in the body. How these marks appear is a hot research topic. Some causes may be diet, stressors or environmental pollutants. What’s important about epigenetics is that it offers a different approach to treating disease. Whereas a hardcopy genetic mutation is difficult to fix, finding ways to remove a bad epigenetic mark, or add a good one, could be an easier solution. |