Scientists have identified 30 genes linked to physical ageing — one of which may possibly be influenced to extend healthy lifespan in humans — after analysing a ‘haystack’ of 40,000 genes from three different organisms.
The researchers from ETH Zurich in Switzerland and the Jena University Hospital in Germany examined around 40,000 genes in the nematode caenorhabditis elegans, zebra fish and mice. The scientists wanted to determine which genes are regulated in identical manner in all three organisms in each comparable ageing stage — young, mature and old.