|
|
|
|
|
|
by gcp123
703 days ago
|
|
|
The gist of it in plain english: 1. Our genes change as we age with some becoming more active, while others become less active. 2. The researchers found a special protein called AP-1 that acts like a master switch. As we get older, AP-1 becomes more active. 3. AP-1 turns on "adult" genes and turns down "young" genes. This happens in many different types of cells in our body. 4. These changes in gene activity are linked to the aging process and may explain why we experience age-related health issues. 5. Understanding this process could help scientists develop new ways to prevent or treat diseases that commonly affect older people, like Alzheimer's or diabetes. |
|
|
From snippet in background for https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6678392/:
"The Activator protein-1 (AP-1), is a group of transcription factors consisted of four sub-families: the Jun (c-Jun, JunB, JunD), Fos (c-Fos, FosB, Fra1, Fra2), Maf (musculoaponeurotic fibrosarcoma) (c-Maf, MafB, MafA. Mafg/f/k, Nrl), and the ATF-activating transcription factor (ATF2, LRF1/ATF3, BATF, JDP1, JDP2) protein families [21], characterized by pleiotropic effects and a central role in different aspects of the immune system such as T-cell activation, Th differentiation, T-cell anergy and exhaustion [22,23]. "
They found a correlation between AP-1 binding sites/motifs and genes with age related changes in expression through their analysis (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S155041312...):
"This revealed that age-opening DARs had the highest enrichment for a subset of bZIP motifs, including AP-1 subunits FRA2, FRA, JUN, JUNB, FOS, ATF3, and BATF, compared with the other peak categories (Figures 4C and S5B). Conversely, age-closing DARs had the lowest AP-1 enrichment (Figures 4C and S5B). As broadly expressed pioneer factors,39,40 AP-1 family members are responsive to a variety of stimuli41 and have been linked to potentiating age-related pathologies and phenotypes.12,13,42,43,44,45 This makes them strong candidates for driving age-related chromatin opening. Highly stable cCREs showed intermediate enrichment levels for these AP-1 motifs (Figures 4C and S5B). However, a distinct feature of highly stable cCREs was very high CTCF motif enrichment levels and binding relative to all other peak categories (Figures 4D, S5B, and S5C)."