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Kaitlyn_The_Magnif t1_iuh1k45 wrote

When our DNA strands are replicated during cell duplication, the very ends of the strands are destroyed. That's ok because on these ends, there are caps called telomeres. The telomeres are very long, so they can be broken down bit by bit over decades of replicating. But eventually, the caps run out and our actual DNA begins getting destroyed. Our cells and organs can no longer replicate and function, so the cells die.

Interestingly, there are a few organisms that have a protein that repairs telomeres. This allows them to live forever, as long as they aren't killed by something.

The lobster, for example, and a more recently-discovered jellyfish that can actually reverse its aging and go back into its younger forms using this process.

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I3reezyCarrot t1_iuh7hy7 wrote

I’m going to assume this special telomere repairing protein cannot be used in humans?

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JaggedMetalOs t1_iuhe9nb wrote

The special telomere repairing protein (telomerase) is active in Humans. It's what resets the telomere length in embryos, and it's also active (but not enough to fully replenish them) in any body tissues that need to regenerate.

One place it's fully active is in cancer cells. It's theorized one of the functions of shortening telomeres is to prevent cancer, because any cancer starting to grow will burn through its telomeres and die, unless the cancer cell is able to mutate to repair its telomeres.

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