(Newswire.net — December 17, 2016) — People have been trying to extend life since the beginning of time, from the first alchemists to 21st century genetics scientists. According to UCLA scientists, the secret to a longer life is locked in a single gene and they claim to have discovered the key.
In order to get rid of “cellular garbage” that causes old age diseases, UCLA biologists activated just one gene, AMPK, in an experiment on fruit flies. By doing so, they extended their lifespan by 30%.
Humans have the same gene.
“Instead of studying the diseases of aging — Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, cancer, stroke, cardiovascular disease, diabetes — one by one, we believe it may be possible to intervene in the aging process and delay the onset of many of these diseases,” explained David Walker, an associate professor of integrative biology and physiology at UCLA, whose paper was published last month in the scientific journal Cell Reports, Russia Today reports.
“We are not there yet, and it could, of course, take many years, but that is our goal and we think it is realistic,” he stated.
Scientists say that the gene structure of fruit flies is mapped and that it can be easily manipulated. In a study on 100,000 fruit flies, scientists found that those flies with the gene activated in their intestines lived just over eight weeks, instead of the usual six weeks. Those flies also remained healthier for a longer period of time.
Comparing that to the US life expectancy of 78 years, this means that activating the same gene in humans could extend life expectancy up to 101 years.
Scientists state that although humans have the AMPK gene, it is inactive. When activated, this gene allows autophagy, the process of isolating and discarding old dysfunctional fragments that are known cause to various diseases. Basically, our body can clean up and take out the trash on a cellular level if the AMPK gene is activated.
Interestingly, activating AMPK gene in one part of the body results in it being activated in an entirely remote part of the body as well. Scientists still haven’t discovered how genes act like they have their own “Wi-Fi” connection and communicate on long interstellar distances, comparing to the vastness of the universe.
A really interesting finding was when Matthew Ulgherait activated the AMPK gene in the nervous system, he saw evidence of “increased levels of autophagy in not only the brain, but also in the intestine”, Walker said. He added that the process can be used vice versa, which could allow future doctors to cure the brain by healing the intestinal region.
And vice versa: ”Activating AMPK in the intestine produced increased levels of autophagy in the brain — and perhaps elsewhere too,” Walker said.
The study results pointed out the key role of autophagy in increasing longevity.
