From: Technotranscendence (neptune@mars.superlink.net)
Date: Sat Sep 23 2000 - 11:22:59 MDT
On Friday, September 22, 2000 8:25 AM John Clark jonkc@worldnet.att.net
wrote:
> In today's (Sept 22) issue of Science Dr. Leonard Guarente reports that
he's
> found exactly why caloric restriction leads to longer life; at least he's
found the
> mechanism that works yeast and strongly suspects the same thing is true of
all
> life. Caloric restriction has extend the life of every species it has been
tested in.
>
> The key is a gene called SIR2 , the protein it produces clads to parts of
the DNA helix,
> covering it up and in effect turns off other genes that are supposed to be
turned off.
> But for the gene to make this cladding protein it needs a substance called
NAD, and it
> turns out NAD is also used in glucose metabolism, so if you eat a lot
there is less NAD
> available to make this very important cladding protein.
>
> There is talk of a pill. Geneticist Tomas Prolla referring to life
extension says
> "I don't think a 30 to 40% range should be considered some kind of
maximum.
Thanks for sending this! It's great news, if true.
The next step, I reckon, is boosting levels of NAD to see what happens.
What exactly is NAD?
Cheers!
Daniel Ust
http://uweb.superlink.net/neptune/
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