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Telomeres
Thousands of years ago Herodotus the 5th century BC Greek historian wrote stories of a mythical fountain that bestowed eternal youth. In the 16 century Juan Ponce de Leon searched for such a fountain in what is now Florida. Today some scientists believe they may have found a type of fountain of youth if you will, within our own bodies. This source of eternal youthfulness may be attributed to a repetitive DNA sequence that caps our chromosomes known as telomeres.
Researchers at Harvard University recently released their results from an experiment testing an enzyme on mice to effectively arrest aging. What they discovered was profound.
First a bit of biology 101. The nucleus is sort of like the administrative center of the cell. It is protected by a porous double plasma membrane. Within the nucleus we find the chromosomes which contain our DNA. The genes within the DNA hold the recipe for everything that makes us. The ends of the chromosomes are protected by end caps known as telomeres, these caps function sort of like the plastic tips on your shoe laces. Every time a cell divides the telomeres get shorter, in effect the cell gets older and after several divisions (Hayflick Limit) the cell dies before the telomeres completely run out. This prevents damage to the genes and the possibility of passing on mutated information.
