Submitted via IRC for Bytram
Genetic discovery holds implications for better immunity, longer life
Working with Caenorhabditis elegans, a transparent nematode found in soil, researchers at Washington State University's Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine were the first to find that the nervous system controls the tiny worm's cuticle, a skin-like exterior barrier, in response to bacterial infections. Their study was published today in Science Advances.
Often used in biologic research as a model organism, the C. elegans nematode has a relatively simple structure while still sharing several genetic similarities with more complex mammals including humans, so this discovery holds implications for human health as well.
"Our study challenges the traditional view that a physical barrier such as a worm's cuticle or a human's skin does not respond to infections but is part of the body's innate defense against a pathogen," said Assistant Professor Jingru Sun, the corresponding author on the paper. "We show that during infection the nematode can change its cuticle structure and that defense response is controlled by the nervous system."
Sun and her colleagues used technologies such as gene silencing and CRISPR gene editing to show that a G-protein-coupled receptor tied to a gene called npr-8 regulates collagens, proteins that are the key structural components of the nematode's cuticle. Nematodes whose NPR-8 receptor was removed survived longer when exposed to the pathogens that cause pneumonia, salmonella and staph infections. The cuticle of the nematodes without the receptor also remained smooth compared to their wild peers whose cuticle wrinkled in response to the same pathogens.
[...] The WSU study results indicate that collagens play an important role in defense of pathogen infection, and the researchers speculate that the neural regulation of collagens might play a role in overall longevity as well. Their next goal is to understand the underlying defense response mechanisms.
Neuronal GPCR NPR-8 regulates C. elegans defense against pathogen infection, Science Advances (DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw4717)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @05:11AM (3 children)
Anyone over 50 is walking dead. The boomers are dead.
The nematode research is old hat. The nanomachines [soylentnews.org] are still shoddy. Anti-aging therapies are nowhere to be found. Cancer is still a problem.
Even if something was effective at extending lifespan, it will take 20 years to reach the market.
Cryonics is your best shot. That requires someone to be kind enough to keep you properly frozen and fix your already crappy body after unfreezing. If you're feeling lucky, get yourself frozen right now instead of after you die.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @06:30AM (2 children)
Good, then I'm dead. Frankly the way things are going, they're going to figure out immortality long before they figure out how to stop the aging process, and there's going to be a lot of Tithonus lying around.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @06:35AM
If you're aging, you're continuing to accumulate damage. It doesn't make sense to achieve immortality without any anti-aging effect.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @12:09PM
If you are dead, then I am the UNDEAD!
brainz ... brainz ... brainz ...
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Saturday November 30 2019, @06:24AM (1 child)
More chance of getting hit by a bus
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 30 2019, @07:01AM
Wear a jetpack.