'Selfish' DNA in animal mitochondria offers possible tool to study aging'

[MindMover]

Phys.org) -- Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered, for the first time in any animal species, a type of “selfish” mitochondrial DNA that is actually hurting the organism and lessening its chance to survive – and bears a strong similarity to some damage done to human cells as they age.

The findings, just published in the journal PLoS One, are a biological oddity previously unknown in animals. But they may also provide an important new tool to study human aging, scientists said. Such selfish mitochondrial DNA has been found before in plants, but not animals.

In this case, the discovery was made almost by accident during some genetic research being done on a nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae – a type of small roundworm. “We weren’t even looking for this when we found it, at first we thought it must be a laboratory error,” said Dee Denver, an OSU associate professor of zoology.

“Selfish DNA is not supposed to be found in animals. But it could turn out to be fairly important as a new genetic model to study the type of mitochondrial decay that is associated with human aging.”

http://phys.org/news/2012-08-selfish-dna-animal-mitochondria-tool.html

================================================

I always knew that my aging had something to do with something selfish going on inside of me. But this .... WOW

[Speck Tater]

1. If we could only cure aging...

...then we'd have a REAL overpopulation problem!