Aging clocks can measure a person’s biological age with high accuracy. Biological age is affected by environmental factors such as smoking and diet, and can deviate from your chronological age, which is calculated using your date of birth. The accuracy of these aging clocks suggests that the aging process follows a program. Scientists David Meyer and Professor Björn Schumacher from CECAD, a cluster of excellence studying cellular stress responses in age-related diseases at the University of Cologne, show that the aging clock actually measures an increase in stochastic changes in cells. I discovered that The study “Aging clock based on accumulation of stochastic fluctuations” was published in Nature Aging.
“Aging is caused when components of our cells are damaged. Where this damage occurs is largely random. Our research demonstrates the accuracy of the aging clock and the completely stochastic process within cells. It’s a combination of cumulative changes,” Professor Schumacher said.
Less checks means more noise
As we age, the control of the processes that occur within our cells becomes less effective, leading to more stochastic outcomes. This is particularly evident with the accumulation of stochastic changes in DNA methylation. Methylation refers to chemical changes that affect DNA, the building blocks of the genome. These methylation processes are tightly controlled in the body. However, random changes in methylation patterns occur throughout life. The accumulation of changes is a very accurate indicator of a person’s age.
Loss of control over cells and increased stochastic variation is not limited to DNA methylation. Mayer and Schumacher demonstrated that increased stochastic fluctuations in gene activity can also be used as an aging clock. “In principle, we could take this a step further and use stochastic fluctuations in all processes within a cell to predict age,” Schumacher said. According to the authors, it is of paramount importance to see whether these aging clocks can indicate the success of interventions that slow the aging process or deleterious factors that accelerate it.
Scientists used available datasets to show that smoking increases random variation in humans and that “anti-aging” interventions, such as lowering caloric intake, reduce variation in methylation patterns in mice. Indicated. They also showed that stochastic noise is reversible by reprogramming somatic cells into stem cells. Scientists compared human skin fibroblasts that were reprogrammed into stem cells and became rejuvenated as a result of the reprogramming. The high variability indicative of somatic cell age was actually reversed to low stochastic noise in young stem cells.
Meier and Schumacher hope that their discoveries about the loss of regulatory function and the accumulation of stochastic fluctuations will lead to new interventions that could tackle the root causes of aging and even lead to cellular rejuvenation. . The goal of such interventions could be to repair stochastic changes in DNA or improve control of gene expression.
