双语早读 | 科学家通过合成“基因震荡器”延长细胞寿命 实现高效抗衰
衰老是一个复杂的生物学过程,是人类寿命和许多疾病的基础,而人类的寿命与个体细胞的衰老有关。近日,加州大学圣地亚哥分校郝楠团队通过合成生物学重新编程细胞衰老的过程,在酵母细胞内设计了一个合成基因振荡器,将酵母细胞寿命延长了82%。
酵母细胞有一个转录开关,导致它们以两种方式中的一种死亡:一种是核仁衰退,另一种是线粒体衰变。通过将这种转录开关重新连接到负反馈回路中,能够使酵母细胞在两种状态之间振荡,并将其寿命延长。
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The pioneering method, which was found to work in yeast cells, requires genetically rewiring a circuit to allow the cells to continuously oscillate between two deteriorative processes instead of succumbing to either.
The result is an increased cellular lifespan through a delay in the commitment to aging.
Molecular biology professor Nan Hao described the circuit responsible for aging as a “toggle switch” that triggers the cells' progression toward death.
“This is the first time computationally guided synthetic biology and engineering principles were used to rationally redesign gene circuits and reprogram the aging process to effectively promote longevity,” Hao said in a statement.
Hao believes the process can eventually be replicated to apply to humans.
In a commentary, Howard Salis, an associate professor of biological and chemical engineering at Penn State University, said human cells contain similar — albeit more complex — age-committing genetic circuitry, making the same method of rewiring a possibility.
The recent study, titled “Engineering longevity — design of a synthetic gene oscillator to slow cellular aging,” was published in the journal Science last week.
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