Scientists believe that acetylation may be the biochemical route to youth. And the best part? It’s not related to diet and exercise.
A team of researchers from Johns Hopkins and National Taiwan Universities made the discovery experimenting with yeast. They found they could greatly increase the longevity of these single-celled organisms by removing and then restoring an age-related protein variant. On a molecular level, this appears to have application for directng increased lifespan in humans.
The study has to do with a chemical variation known as acetylation. Acetylation is the process of adding an acetyl group to an existing molecule, and has been compared to putting an ornament on a Christmas tree and then taking it off again. It can change protein function to help an organism rapidly adapt to environmental changes.
The research team now turns its attention to proving that this process occurs in mammalian cells as well. Could acetylation be the wave of the future in anti aging?
