Hostilis_ t1_j5rc8na wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:42 AM

Reply to comment by funkyrdaughter in Seven technologies to watch in 2023: tools and techniques that are poised to have an outsized impact on science. by Vucea

They're all (ostensibly) encoded by our genome

funkyrdaughter t1_j5rd0he wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:48 AM

Oh so basically looking at dna we can see all the possible proteins that we have the ability to create? I wasn’t sure if they did some like Lego stuff and some proteins naturally conjoined to other to form even more proteins but then I guess with the technology you still be able to figure out possible combinations based on their shapes. I’m surprised this isn’t talked about more. Does this mean we would also be able to create proteins that could get rid of the stuff our body doesn’t naturally break down? I read an article on the immortal jellyfish. If they had their genome sequenced couldn’t they see all the proteins and make a conjecture based on shape to see which ones are responsible for the “reverse aging”

Hostilis_ t1_j5re6re wrote on January 25, 2023 at 12:56 AM

As far as I understand, immune system proteins can have these "Lego brick" type combinations, but they're the exception. Most proteins are directly encoded by the DNA.

And yeah it's absolutely possible that we could engineer proteins to get rid of toxic stuff in our bodies. Solving aging is a bit more difficult because it involves how lots of proteins and genes interact with each other, but even then AI (deep neural networks) could probably help a ton.

funkyrdaughter t1_j5rfesq wrote on January 25, 2023 at 1:05 AM

From the dna perspective is aging just telomeres and methylation?

Hostilis_ t1_j5rmgkc wrote on January 25, 2023 at 1:56 AM

Those are two big pieces to aging, but not the whole picture. I'm not an expert, but I think oxidation and accumulation of damage to proteins and DNA are also very important and will be much more difficult to handle.