The Epigenome of Newborns and Centenarians Is Different

[TECH NEWS]

An international collaborative research effort led by Manel Esteller of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL, Barcelona, Spain) has found that the epigenome of newborns and centenarians is different. While the genome of every cell in the human body, regardless of their appearance and function, is identical, chemical signals that regulate it, known as epigenetic marks, are specific to each human tissue and every organ. The surprising result of the work led by Dr. Esteller is that the epigenome varies depending on the age of the person, even for the same tissue or organ. In the study published in PNAS, epigenomes from white blood cells of a newborn, a man of middle age and a person of 103 years have been fully sequenced. The results show that the centenarian presents a distorted epigenome that has lost many of its switches (methyl chemical groups). Dr. Esteller noted that “epigenetic lesions, unlike genetic ones, are reversible and therefore modifying the patterns of DNA methylation by dietary changes or use of drugs may induce an increase in lifetime.”

June 11, 2012, IDIBELL