They are weird, bald, subterranean rodents that look like sausages with teeth, and they have just revealed a genetic secret to long life.
A new study of the bizarre naked mole rat shows that the animals have evolved a DNA repair mechanism that could explain their longevity.
These burrow-dwelling rats have a maximum life span of nearly 40 years, making them world’s the longest-lived rodent.
The new findings, published in the journal Science, could also shed light on why naked mole rats are resistant to a wide range of age-related diseases.
The animals are resistant to cancer, deterioration of the brain and spinal cord, and arthritis, so many scientists want to understand more about how their bodies work.
For this study, led by a team at Tonji University in Shanghai, China, the focus was DNA repair - a natural process in our bodies’ cells. When strands of DNA - our genetic building blocks - are damaged, a mechanism is triggered whereby another undamaged strand of DNA is used as a template to repair the break.
The focus of this research was on a particular protein that is involved in that system of damage sensing and repair.
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