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Transcriptional and Translational Dysregulation During Aging

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Aging at the Molecular Level

Part of the book series: Biology of Aging and Its Modulation ((BIMO,volume 1))

Abstract

Each cell type in an organism comes to acquire a unique pattern of gene expression through differentiation during development. It is obvious that this pattern of gene expression must be maintained for the normal functioning of cells and for the survival of the organism. Since aging is considered to be a result of failure of maintenance at all levels, attempts have been made to look for an age-related drifting-away of cells in terms of changes in the pattern of gene expression during aging. In most cases, mRNA levels of different genes have been estimated by RNA-DNA hybridization, using cDNA or genomic probes for specific genes. More recently, the availability of gene array technology has made it possible to compare the expression of thousands of genes. The results obtained show that during aging the expression of some genes increases, of some it decreases and of others it remains constant [1–7]. In all such studies on measuring the levels of mRNA in young and old cells and tissues, it is assumed that this estimate is a direct measure of gene activity. This is a simplistic notion, because it is well known that post-transcriptional changes, such as the processing, transport and turnover of RNA, change significantly the levels of mRNA.

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  1. Laboratory of Cellular Aging, Danish Centre for Molecular Gerontology, Department of Molecular Biology, University of Aarhus, DK-8000, Aarhus - C, Denmark

    Suresh I. S. Rattan

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  1. Suresh I. S. Rattan
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  1. Henry Wellcome Laboratory for Biogerontology, Newcastle General Hospital, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Thomas von Zglinicki (Professor of Cellular Gerontology) (Professor of Cellular Gerontology)

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Rattan, S.I.S. (2003). Transcriptional and Translational Dysregulation During Aging. In: von Zglinicki, T. (eds) Aging at the Molecular Level. Biology of Aging and Its Modulation, vol 1. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0667-4_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0667-4_12

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