History of human genome
and research on longevity
On 05-08-2013
2001: U.S. President Bill Clinton officially announced the first complete sequencing of the human genome. This work had cost two billion euros.
In 2011, this work cost more than 5000 euros and estimates put 70 euros in 2015 to the same result. Projections also say that 25 million people could see their genetic sequencing performed in 2015.
For comparison and to show the evolution of the number of people with their genetic sequencing, a single person had it in 2007, 6 in 2008, 100 in 2009 and 5,000 in 2010.
27-04-2011: A Charleroi in Belgium, the laboratories of the DNA Division have developed a system to completely decrypt the 23,000 genes of an individual in 3 days and are able to list the potential deseases the person analyzed could face.
11-01-2011: A team of French researchers from INSERM at the Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier, directed by Jean-Marc Lemaitre, succeeded in November 2011 to regenerate human cells that were more than 100 years to obtain stem cells. This has been done via the use of a cocktail of 6 genes.
This method was able to rejuvenate an extreme old age cell to reprogramm it so that it can again multiply.
The new thing in this experience already (realized in 2007 from four genes added) is that this time very old cells were used.
The future possibilities of this approach are able to obtain organs from stem cells from the patient himself, and thus avoid the risk of rejection in transplantation.
11-26-2012: Discovery of gene of immortality by a German research team in a fresh water polyp called Hydra. This particular gene called FoxO is present in many living organisms, including the human genome.
FoxO stands for forkhead box O3, also known as FOXO3 or FOXO3a, which is a human protein encoded by the FoxO gene. This protein is also seen as a tumour suppressor.
FOXO3 belongs to the subclass O of the forkhead family of transcription factors which are characterized by a separate head fork DNA-binding domain.
State of advanced research in 2013:
There are three other members of the FoxO family in humans, FoxO1, FoxO4 and FoxO6.
These transcription factors share the ability to be inhibited and a translocation to the nucleus of the phosphorylation of proteins such as Akt/PKB in the PI3K signaling pathway (FoxO6 apart, which may be constitutively nuclear (Akt promotes cell survival by phosphorylating and inhibiting a Forkhead transcription factor (Brunet A, Bonni A, Zigmond MJ, Lin MZ, Juo P, Hu LS, Anderson MJ, Arden KC, Blenis J, Greenberg ME - March 1999))). Other post-translational modifications including acetylation and methylation have been seen and can result in increased or altered FOXO3a activity.
This protein likely functions as a trigger for apoptosis through upregulation of genes necessary for cell death, such as Bim and PUMA (The BH3-only protein PUMA plays an essential role in cytokine deprivation (Ekoff M, Kaufmann T, Engstrom M, Motoyama N, Villunger A, Jonsson JI, Strasser A, Nilsson G - November 2007)) induced apoptosis of mast cells or downregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins such as FLIP (The Akt-regulated forkhead transcription factor FOXO3a controls endothelial cell viability through modulation of the caspase-8 inhibitor FLIP (C Skurk, Maatz H, Kim HS, Yang J, Abid MR, Aird WC, Walsh K - January 2004)).
A variant of Fox03 has been associated with human longevity. It is found in most of old persons all around in the world. The approved genes known as DAF-16 by Cynthia Kenyon and Gary Ruvkun in to nematode C. elegans and dFOXO in fruit fly are also associated with longevity.
In 2011, this work cost more than 5000 euros and estimates put 70 euros in 2015 to the same result. Projections also say that 25 million people could see their genetic sequencing performed in 2015.
For comparison and to show the evolution of the number of people with their genetic sequencing, a single person had it in 2007, 6 in 2008, 100 in 2009 and 5,000 in 2010.
27-04-2011: A Charleroi in Belgium, the laboratories of the DNA Division have developed a system to completely decrypt the 23,000 genes of an individual in 3 days and are able to list the potential deseases the person analyzed could face.
11-01-2011: A team of French researchers from INSERM at the Institute of Functional Genomics in Montpellier, directed by Jean-Marc Lemaitre, succeeded in November 2011 to regenerate human cells that were more than 100 years to obtain stem cells. This has been done via the use of a cocktail of 6 genes.
This method was able to rejuvenate an extreme old age cell to reprogramm it so that it can again multiply.
The new thing in this experience already (realized in 2007 from four genes added) is that this time very old cells were used.
The future possibilities of this approach are able to obtain organs from stem cells from the patient himself, and thus avoid the risk of rejection in transplantation.
11-26-2012: Discovery of gene of immortality by a German research team in a fresh water polyp called Hydra. This particular gene called FoxO is present in many living organisms, including the human genome.
FoxO stands for forkhead box O3, also known as FOXO3 or FOXO3a, which is a human protein encoded by the FoxO gene. This protein is also seen as a tumour suppressor.
FOXO3 belongs to the subclass O of the forkhead family of transcription factors which are characterized by a separate head fork DNA-binding domain.
State of advanced research in 2013:
There are three other members of the FoxO family in humans, FoxO1, FoxO4 and FoxO6.
These transcription factors share the ability to be inhibited and a translocation to the nucleus of the phosphorylation of proteins such as Akt/PKB in the PI3K signaling pathway (FoxO6 apart, which may be constitutively nuclear (Akt promotes cell survival by phosphorylating and inhibiting a Forkhead transcription factor (Brunet A, Bonni A, Zigmond MJ, Lin MZ, Juo P, Hu LS, Anderson MJ, Arden KC, Blenis J, Greenberg ME - March 1999))). Other post-translational modifications including acetylation and methylation have been seen and can result in increased or altered FOXO3a activity.
This protein likely functions as a trigger for apoptosis through upregulation of genes necessary for cell death, such as Bim and PUMA (The BH3-only protein PUMA plays an essential role in cytokine deprivation (Ekoff M, Kaufmann T, Engstrom M, Motoyama N, Villunger A, Jonsson JI, Strasser A, Nilsson G - November 2007)) induced apoptosis of mast cells or downregulation of anti-apoptotic proteins such as FLIP (The Akt-regulated forkhead transcription factor FOXO3a controls endothelial cell viability through modulation of the caspase-8 inhibitor FLIP (C Skurk, Maatz H, Kim HS, Yang J, Abid MR, Aird WC, Walsh K - January 2004)).
A variant of Fox03 has been associated with human longevity. It is found in most of old persons all around in the world. The approved genes known as DAF-16 by Cynthia Kenyon and Gary Ruvkun in to nematode C. elegans and dFOXO in fruit fly are also associated with longevity.
