Did you know that some sharks live for over 400 years? And did you know that we still don’t know exactly how long sharks live? This article from CNN informs us that: “Due to the marine animal’s slow metabolism, scientists long suspected that the Greenland shark had an unusually lengthy lifespan, but there was no way to determine the exact magnitude until recently. Research published in 2016 determined the sharks are the longest-living vertebrates, likely living to be around 400 years old, with the estimate ranging from 272 years old to over 500 years old.”
Now thanks to genome sequencing, an international team of researchers have managed to figure out some of the secrets relating to this remarkable species: “Greenland sharks grow at an extremely slow rate of less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inch) a year but eventually can reach more than 6 meters (about 20 feet) in length, and they don’t reach sexual maturity until they are more than a century old. It’s suspected that the oldest of the species could survive over half a millennium.”
Scientists are now trying to figure what we as a species can replicate from the shark’s chilled lifestyle so as to extend our relatively brief lifespans: “The study authors found the shark’s genome to be extraordinarily large, twice as long as a human’s and bigger than any other shark genome sequenced to date. The researchers are analyzing the genome to explore what its large size may mean for the shark’s longevity. One reason for a longer genome might come down to the shark’s ability to repair its DNA, a trait that has commonly been seen in other species with exceptional lifespans, including the naked mole rat, the longest-living rodent that endures up to 30 years or more, and certain species of tortoises that can live to be more than 100.
The Greenland shark is unique in that a vast amount — more than 70% — of its genome is made up of jumping genes, which can move within the DNA sequence by duplicating themselves, sometimes creating mutations. Often, these duplications are referred to as genetic parasites due to their potential harmful effects, including genetic diseases such as cancer.
However, it seems that in the Greenland shark, the genes that repair DNA have been acting as jumping genes, distributing themselves into the genome and slowing down the aging process by fixing damaged DNA. As a result, “the detrimental effect of these transposable elements (jumping genes) is not only canceled out, but maybe even reversed so that the genome integrity is even better in the Greenland shark,” said lead author Dr. Arne Sahm, a bioinformatician and junior professor at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany.
The authors suggest that DNA repair genes in the species at some point evolved the ability to multiply, further contributing to DNA repair and in turn longevity.”
Hopefully, before it is too late, we’ll be able to order a DNA Repair Kit on Amazon.
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