Scientists from the SCRIPPS Institute (USA) found the main, in their opinion, a factor in cellular aging. A study published in the journal Science.
Biologists were able to identify a TZAP protein.
“This protein sets an upper limit on telomere length, says co-author Lazzerini Denchi. — This allows the cells to multiply, but not too much.”
A new connection was second open in the past few decades factor, then the enzyme telomerase and the protein complex shelterin controlling associated with telomeres, the end segments of chromosomes.
Telomeres are protective. From infancy their size is gradually decreasing: in average two times to adulthood and to the elderly. It is considered one of the reasons for the aging of the human body. The reduction in the rate of degradation of telomeres, thus, directly related to the increase in life expectancy.
Previously, scientists found that modern people begin to age approximately 39 years.
