 |
|
Evolutionary conservation of a mechanism of longevity from worms to mammals
October 05, 2005Though the study of aging in the nematode model organism C. elegans has provided much insight into this complex process, it is not yet clear whether genes involved in aging in the worm have a similar role in mammals. In a recent study, Dr. Hekimi and colleagues of McGill University (Canada) report that inactivation of the gene mclk1, the murine ortholog of the C. elegans gene clk-1, results in increased cellular fitness and prolonged lifespan in mice.
The gene clk-1 in the worm, as well as mclk1 in mice, encodes an enzyme necessary for the biosynhesis of ubiquinone, an essential cofactor in numerous redox reactions such as mitochondrial respiration. Though lack of the mclk1 gene results in embryonic lethality, the authors were able to study mclk1-/- embryonic stem (ES) cells and show that they are resistant to oxidative stress and exhibit reduced DNA damage when compared to ES cells in which this gene is active.
Because these findings would predict that reduced expression of the mclk1 gene would result in longevity, the authors compared the lifespan of mice heterozygous for mclk1 with their wild-type counterparts. A predicted, mclk1+/- mice displayed a substantial increase in lifespan in three different genetic backgrounds tested. Moreover, when the livers of these mice where analyzed, the authors found that a subset of hepatocytes exhibited loss of heterozygosity (effectively becoming mclk1-/- cells) and had undergone clonal expansion. The authors suggest that these mclk null cells were able to out-compete mclk1+/- hepatocytes, suggesting that resistance to oxidative stress upon loss of mclk1 provides a growth advantage.
Though the aging process of different organisms will most likely differ due to different physiologies and environments, Dr. Hekimi summarizes the relevance of their findings by concluding that "the longevity-promoting effect of reducing clk-1/mclk1 activity that was initially observed in C. elegans is conserved in mice, supporting the idea that some molecular mechanisms of aging are shared throughout the animal kingdom."
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Though the aging process of different organisms will most likely differ due to different physiologies and environments, Dr. Hekimi summarizes the relevance of their findings by concluding that "the longevity-promoting effect of reducing clk-1/mclk1 activity that was initially observed in C. elegans is conserved in mice, supporting the idea that some molecular mechanisms of aging are shared throughout the animal kingdom."
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Evolutionary Conservation Current Events and Evolutionary Conservation News RSSScientists uncover new class of non-protein coding genes in mammals with key functions
A research team at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has uncovered a vast new class of previously unrecognized mammalian genes that do not encode proteins, but instead function as long RNA molecules.
New molecular insight into vertebrate brain development
In the December 1st issue of G&D, Dr. Fred H. Gage (The Salk Institute for Biological Studies) and colleagues reveal a role for the Hippo signaling pathway in the regulation of vertebrate neural development, identifying new factors - and potential therapeutic targets - that may be involved in congenital brain size disorders and neurological tumor formation.
Scientists trace molecular origin of proportional development
When it comes to embryo formation in the lowly fruit fly, a little molecular messiness actually leads to enhanced developmental precision, according to a study in the Oct. 14 Developmental Cell from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
Metabolic insight to illuminate causes of iron imbalance
New insight into key players in iron metabolism has yielded a novel tool for distinguishing among root causes of iron overload or deficiency in humans, the researchers report in the August issue of Cell Metabolism, a publication of Cell Press. While the body needs iron to produce hemoglobin, a substance in red blood cells that enables them to carry oxygen, too much iron can build up and eventually damage organs.
How to build a plant
Walking through a tropical or temperate forest immediately impresses us with the myriad forms and soaring structures of the plant world, but our knowledge of how plants are actually built, cell by cell, is still incomplete.
Dog genome sequence and analysis published in Nature
An international research team led by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard announced today the completion of a high-quality genome sequence of the domestic dog, together with a catalog of 2.5 million specific genetic differences across several dog breeds.
Carnegie Mellon University research reveals how cells process large genes
Important messages require accurate transmission. Big genes are especially challenging because they combine many coding segments (exons) that lie between long stretches of non-coding elements (introns).
More Evolutionary Conservation Current Events and Evolutionary Conservation News Articles
|
Conservation Biology: An Evolutionary-Ecological Perspective by Michael E. Soule (Author), Bruce Wilcox (Author) | |
 |
Evolutionary Conservation Biology (Cambridge Studies in Adaptive Dynamics) by Régis Ferrière (Editor), Ulf Dieckmann (Editor), Denis Couvet (Editor) As human threats to the Earth's biota span unprecedented temporal and spatial scales, it has become urgent to integrate currently disparate areas of conservation biology into a unified framework. Combining conservation genetics, demography, and ecology, this book presents an integrative approach to managing species as well as ecological and evolutionary processes. The contributions are intended for students, professionals, and researchers in conservation biology, ecology, genetics, and evolution. |
 |
Evolutionary Conservation Genetics by Jacob Hoglund (Author) Conservation genetics focuses on understanding the role and requirement of genetic variation for population persistence. However, considerable debate now surrounds the role of genetic factors (as opposed to non-genetic factors such as habitat destruction etc.) in population extinction, and a comprehensive synthesis is now timely. Can extinction be explained by habitat destruction alone or is lack of genetic variation a part of the explanation? The book thoroughly reviews the arguments for a role of genetics in the present biodiversity crisis. It describes the methods used to study genetic variation in endangered species and examines the influence of genetic variation in the extinction of species. To date, conservation genetics has predominantly utilized neutral genetic markers e.g.... |
 |
Desert Puma: Evolutionary Ecology And Conservation Of An Enduring Carnivore by Kenneth A. Logan (Author), Linda L. Sweanor (Author), Maurice G. Hornocker (Foreword) Scientists and conservationists are beginning to understand the importance of top carnivores to the health and integrity of fully functioning ecosystems. As burgeoning human populations continue to impinge on natural landscapes, the need for understanding carnivore populations and how we affect them is becoming increasingly acute. Desert Puma represents one of the most detailed assessments ever produced of the biology and ecology of a top carnivore. The husband-and-wife team of Kenneth Logan and Linda Sweanor set forth extensive data gathered from their ten-year field study of pumas in the Chihuahua Desert of New Mexico, also drawing on other reliable scientific data gathered throughout the puma's geographic range. Chapters examine: the evolutionary and modern history of pumas, their... |
 |
The Living Elephants: Evolutionary Ecology, Behaviour, and Conservation (Life Sciences) by Raman Sukumar (Author) This book pulls together the available information on both Indian and African elephants, synthesizing the biology, ecology, behavior, evolution, and conservation of elephants and covering the history of human interactions with elephants. There is no other braod treatment of the subject. |
![Coral reefs: Conserving the evolutionary sources [An article from: Biological Conservation]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51P1T5EY1VL._SL160_.jpg) |
Coral reefs: Conserving the evolutionary sources [An article from: Biological Conservation] by J.C. Briggs (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Biological Conservation, published by Elsevier in . The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: The current worldwide degradation of coral reefs constitutes an international problem that calls for immediate attention. A multitude of conservation hotspots scattered over the circumtropical seas have been identified, but there has been no general agreement as to how to attack the problem. The major difficulty seems to be the lack of a priority system. Are some reefs more important than others? If so, where are they located and what needs to be done? Some reefs are located in areas where the biodiversity... |
 |
Evolutionary Conservation of Developmental Mechanisms: 50th Symposium of the Society for Developmental Biology by Allan C. Spradling (Author) This advanced-level monograph offers an overview of the basic mechanisms of multi-cellular development, with particular emphasis on unifying themes in the study of developmental biology. Topics discussed include the transmission and interpretation of information between cells. |
 |
Conservation and the Genetics of Populations by Fred W. Allendorf (Author), Gordon Luikart (Author) Conservation and the Genetics of Populations gives a comprehensive overview of the essential background, concepts, and tools needed to understand how genetic information can be used to develop conservation plans for species threatened with extinction. Provides a thorough understanding of the genetic basis of biological problems in conservation. Uses a balance of data and theory, and basic and applied research, with examples taken from both the animal and plant kingdoms. An associated website contains example data sets and software programs to illustrate population genetic processes and methods of data analysis. Discussion questions and problems are included at the end of each chapter to aid understanding. Features Guest Boxes written by leading people in the field... |
![Learning-induced axonal remodeling: Evolutionary divergence and conservation of two components of the mossy fiber system within Rodentia [An article from: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51T0MTGZBVL._SL160_.jpg) |
Learning-induced axonal remodeling: Evolutionary divergence and conservation of two components of the mossy fiber system within Rodentia [An article from: Neurobiology of Learning and Memory] by J.L. Rekart (Author), C.J. Sandoval (Author), A. Routtenberg (Author) This digital document is a journal article from Neurobiology of Learning and Memory, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. Description: Damage to the hippocampal formation results in profound impairments in spatial navigation in rats and mice leading to the widely accepted assumption that the hippocampal cellular and molecular memory mechanisms of both genera are conserved. Recently our group has shown in two rat strains that hippocampal-dependent training in the water maze specifically induces robust 'sprouting' of granule cell suprapyramidal mossy fiber axon terminal fields. Here we sought to investigate whether the pronounced... |
|
International conservation assistance in an era of structural changes.: An article from: Journal of Economic Issues by George D. Santopietro (Author) This digital document is an article from Journal of Economic Issues, published by Association for Evolutionary Economics on June 1, 1998. The length of the article is 2916 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser. From the supplier: International lending institutions such as multilateral lending agencies (MLA) have imposed structural changes among borrowing countries. MLAs demand borrowing countries to institute reforms related to the conservation of natural resources and pollution control. In the late 1980s, lenders such as the World Bank required environmental impact assessments. This requirement... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |