A gene variant has been identified in people who have lived to the age of 100 or more that appears to slow down the fundamental processes which cause ageing.
Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) is a protein involved in regulating chromatin, the complex of DNA and protein found in our cells, and it has also been shown to play a role in metabolism, disease and ageing.
In 2019, Vera Gorbunova, a biologist at the University of Rochester in New York, and her team found that SIRT6 is responsible for more efficient DNA repair in species with longer lifespans.
“The SIRT6 protein seems to be the dominant determinant of lifespan,” said Dirk Bohmann, professor of biomedical genetics at the University of Rochester. “We show that at the cell level, the DNA repair works better, and at the organism level, there is an extended lifespan.”
Now more research has highlighted its potential for preventing age-related diseases.
In 2021, scientists at Bar-Ilan University were able to use SIRT6 to increase the life expectancy in mice as well as enable old mice to conduct the same level of vigorous activity as their younger counterparts, without becoming frail.
“This discovery, combined with our previous findings, shows that SIRT6 controls the rate of healthy ageing,” said Professor Cohen, of Bar-Ilan University’s Mina and Everard Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences. “If we can determine how to activate it in humans, we will be able to prolong life, and this could have enormous health and economic implications.”
While more Australians are hitting a century than ever before – centenarians are now our fastest-growing demographic – it’s clear that the key to longevity is still yet to be unlocked.
