🚀 go-pugleaf

Jim Barron wrote:
> 
> Aldor wrote:
> >
> > AgAcademy wrote:
> > >
> > > Aldor wrote:
> > >
> > > > I wonder if anyone has tried increasing the length of units on the
> > > > telomeres of mice.  Would they grow bigger, live longer, or neither?
> > >
> > > How difficult will it be to turn on the telemerase gene in somatice
> > > cells?  Has this been done in vitro?
> >
> > Just changing the number of units in a fertilized mouse egg cell might
> > be interesting.
> 
> Changing the number of units would only affect those cells (which would
> be a VERY small fraction of the cells in an adult animal.  You would
> have to change the GENES that code for the number of telomeres so that
> when cells divided, all new cell s would have the larger number.  And
> THAT we don't know how to do yet! (As far as I know, we don't)
> 
> jdbarron@cphl.mindspring.com
> 
No, I simply meant changing the length of telomeres in the fertilized
egg cell of the rodent.  When that egg grows to maturity, it will have
done so starting out with longer telomeres.  Changing the lentgh would
be a matter of using recombinant DNA to splice on to the ends to add
more telomere units.  It might be interesting to also extend the length
of many telomeres in the cells of the adult organism as well, but it
would be harder to do.  It would seem better to start with the simplest
first.  Also, I think that rodents have a lesser number of chromosomes,
so it would be easier to do with them.