The circumpolarbowhead whalecan live for more than 200 age , wee-wee them the world ’s longest - lived mammals . And remarkably , equate to humans , these whales bide relatively free of age - related disease . Now researchers have sequence the genome of the Arctic hulk and identified the key differences between these bi - centenarians and other mammals . Thework , published inCell Reportsthis week , is the first time the genome of a orotund whale was sequenced .
How is it that a big whale with over 1,000 times more cells than humans does n’t seem to have an increase risk of Crab ? They must have some rude chemical mechanism that can stamp down cancer more in effect than those of little mammalian . " Our understanding of coinage ' differences in longevity is very poor , and thus our findings offer novel candidate genes for future studies,“João Pedro de Magalhães from the University of Liverpoolsays in anews expiration . " My perspective is that mintage acquire unlike ' tricks ' to have a longer life-time , and by discovering the ' joke ' used by the bowhead we may be able-bodied to put on those findings to humans for campaign age - related diseases . "
To learn some longevity lessons from the gargantuan baleen hulk , Magalhães and a large international team extracted DNA from stranded muscle tissue sampled from a 51 - year - old distaff bowhead ( Balaena mysticetus ) who was caught in West Greenland ’s Disko Bay in 2009 . Then they compared the new sequenced genome to two other whales ( minke and killer giant ) and 18 other mammalian , include a chimp , elephant , human , bum , and platypus .
They discover that change in bowhead gene that are related to cell air division , desoxyribonucleic acid repair , cancer , and ageing seem to aid increase their length of service and cancer resistance .
Because the bowhead ’s genome is the first among big whale to be sequenced , the finding may help reveal physiological adaptation related to size . Whale cellular telephone have a much low metabolic charge per unit than those of belittled mammal , for object lesson , and the squad found adjustment in one specific cistron postulate in thermoregulation ( call UCP1 ) that may be touch on to these metabolic difference .
Next , the team will be breeding mice that can express bowhead genes to help determine the importance of different genes for longsighted life spans and resistance to disease .
Images : Loke Film and Adam Schmedes ( top ) , Kate Stafford ( middle ) / Cell report 2015
