New explanation for the longevity of social insect reproductives: Transposable element activity.

Lucas, Eric ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3892-1668 and Keller, Laurent (2018) 'New explanation for the longevity of social insect reproductives: Transposable element activity.'. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol 115, Issue 21, pp. 5317-5318.

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Abstract

The increasing frailty that accompanies old age deeply influences our lives and permeates our thoughts. As a result, studies tackling this topic naturally fascinate both specialists and the general public. However, despite a wealth of research, the fundamental mechanisms of aging remain undetermined. Damage to molecules, such as DNA and proteins that are essential for life and proper organismal function, is a prime candidate for explaining the degeneration that accompanies aging (1). Much of the research into age-related DNA damage has focused on the damage caused by oxidative stress (2), but this is by no means the only potential source of disruption that can occur to DNA. A ground-breaking study in PNAS by Elsner et al. (3) leverages the remarkable natural differences in longevity found among termite castes to identify transposable element (TE) activity as a potential source of DNA damage that is elevated in older workers compared with the reproductive kings and queens.

Item Type:	Article
Subjects:	QU Biochemistry > Proteins. Amino Acids. Peptides > QU 58.7 RNA QX Parasitology > QX 4 General works QX Parasitology > Insects. Other Parasites > QX 650 Insect vectors
Faculty: Department:	Biological Sciences > Vector Biology Department
Digital Object Identifer (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1806014115
Depositing User:	Stacy Murtagh
Date Deposited:	11 May 2018 14:04
Last Modified:	07 Nov 2018 02:02
URI:	https://archive.lstmed.ac.uk/id/eprint/8600

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