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wild to cultivated changes?
"Rob Halgren" wrote in message ... Al wrote: One of the things I remember about Dolly the cloned sheep is that, while they able to reset the sequence of events in the genes and grow her up from cells of her mother, they started with cells of a specific age, as measured by the telomere length, so dolly, even as a "baby" sheep, was subject to the same age related problems as her mother, since her cells were biologically the same age. They were not able to reset the clock built into the genes but only restart the sequence. Ok, I'll go there. Thanks! This is greatly appreciated! I'll get you a sundae if, or when, we meet (possibly at a show in Michigan, if I get a chance to go, or at a SOOS show in Toronto, should you get a chance to attend that ;-) I'll even throw in a coffee ;-). There is a critter called telomerase which adds telomere repeats to the ends of chromosomes. In the real world, it is only expressed in a very limited set of cells, for a very limited time. So your germ cells may have this enzyme turned on, but your skin cells won't. In fact, turning on telomerase activity in somatic (body) cells has been associated with cancer progression. So, since Dolly was cloned from a somatic cell (I don't know which kind), the poor little ewe started out with shorter telomeres than she should have. Interesting. I wonder if they could have rejuvenated the cell Dolly was made from, before it began to divide, by turning back on. If so, would it turn itself off again at the right time, or would an intervention be required to turn it off later? Or is an exprimental manipulation to lengthen the telomeres without turning on the gene (perhaps be extracting the genetic material, manipulating it and then putting it back)? So, we could turn telomerase back on in all your cells... This might make your cells 'young' again. However, you would get terrible cancers and die. So that isn't really the answer now, is it? *grin* Nope! But then, those who fear death would likely want it examined in animals to see if the problems associated with turning telomerase on can be avoided, in an effort to prolong life. Through my own chronic illness (no safe, effective treatment and uncontrollable pain: less than a 50% chance of living to age 65 according to the latest stats I've seen), I have learned not only not to fear death but to see it as a welcome friend. What good is a prolonged life if you don't have your health? Cheers, Ted |
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