From:
sukiec@optonline.net
Date: 2006-11-04 15:47:37 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Hmm, I wonder if changes in RATES of aging accompany domestication and implications for tumor suppression
To: ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
As Dr. Bruce Williams is prone to joking, "Oh, oh! Sukie's thinking again!=
"
Boulder of salt time since I am throwing out some speculations.
The enclosed quotes are from a Sci News article which will be in in your l=
ibrary, or available now at
<http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20061104/bob9.asp> =
for subscribers, and non-subscribers should be able to get it in a week.
A possibly weird question arises: there are already "Star Gene" (not the =
adrenal steroid work StAR Gene) studies derived first from fox domesticatio=
n which show a suite of characteristics that rapidly arise with domesticati=
on: neotany, neural crest genetic variant types of markings, gentle behavi=
or, reduced tendency to startle, etc. It has been postulated that the basi=
c mutation(s) for domestication involve reduced amounts of more slowly gene=
rated epinephrin. (So, already, domestication may involve adrenal changes,=
and since some neural crest variations increase malignancies perhaps an in=
creased vulnerability on that score ultimately, perhaps even an increased v=
ulnerability to mutation of involved genetic loci). (BTW, there are also i=
ndications that humans have perhaps been domesticating themselves.)
<http://www.floridalupine.org/publications/PDF/trut-fox-study.pdf>
<http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/25/health/25rats.html?
=3D_r=3D3D1&th&emc=3D3Dth&oref=3D3Dslogin>
<http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG17988>
<http://www.floridalupine.org/publications/PDF/trut-fox-study.pdf>
<http://reactor-core.org/taming-foxes.html>
<http://7e.devbio.com/article.php?id=3D223>
HERE IS THE FURTHER QUESTION: Is it also possible that the neotany that ar=
ises with domestication CHANGES THE ***RATE*** OF AGING compared with wild =
relatives? If so, could an increased rate of malignancies beyond those whi=
ch can be associated with some neural crest variations be a side effect in =
that way of domestication itself?
Now remember that these are not wild mice modified for youthful characteris=
tics (neotany), but instead are domestic mice modified to have great reduct=
ions in the effects of aging:
BEGIN QUOTES
Dorian Gray, the everlasting dandy of Oscar Wilde's novel, halted aging. Ra=
ther than his body growing old, his portrait suffered the insults of time. =
In recent years, biologists have created real-life Dorian Grays: mice that =
don't show certain signs of age. But in both the story and the lab, there w=
ere trade-offs. By remaining young, the fictional Dorian Gray became self-d=
estructive. In the scientific plotline, the specially bred mice develop can=
cer and die young.
...
Scientists create such mice by inserting mutations in one of two important =
tumor-suppressing genes that mice and people share. The result has revealed=
a deep link between cancer and aging. Cancer depends on over-enthusiastic =
cell replication, whereas replication typically dwindles during aging. In a=
sense, according to the new findings, growing old is the flip side of fend=
ing off cancer.
"Aging itself may be part of the body's anticancer machinery," says Viktor =
Janzen, a hematologist-oncologist at the University of T=FCbingen in German=
y.
...
Sharpless and his team created two strains of mice for use in several exper=
iments. The strains differ in their production of the protein p16, also cal=
led p16INK4a. The substance suppresses replication of cancerous cells.
...
Scientists had previously noted that p16 becomes more abundant with age in =
some types of mammalian tissue. The new experiments, reported in three pape=
rs in the Sept. 28 Nature, establish that p16 contributes directly to the a=
ge-related process called regenerative senescence, which gradually erodes c=
ells' capacity to replicate.
Mammals and other long-lived organisms must continually replace cells in th=
eir tissues as existing ones wear out. "Declining proliferation is a cause =
of mammalian aging," says Sharpless.
END QUOTES
I can't recall ever encountering any studies comparing rates of aging betwe=
en wild and domesticated animals, and am not entirely sure how it would be =
accurately measured, though the study mentioned may provide the start of be=
ing able to do so.
-- Sukie (not a vet, and not speaking for any of the below in my private po=
sts)
Recommended health resources to help ferrets and the people who love them:
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http://www.ferretcongress.org
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