, their findings reveal insights into premature aging diseases and potential strategies to combat aging in healthy individuals such as controlling exposure to aldehyde-inducing substances including alcohol, pollution, and smoke.
Histones are crosslinked with DNA following formaldehyde exposure, leading to the malfunction of cellular processes such as transcription. Credit: Reiko Matsushita These processes are important because they are related to the clearance of aldehydes. It suggests an association between premature aging diseases and aldehyde accumulation.Professor Ogi is hopeful about the implications of their findings, stating: “By elucidating the mechanism by which DNA damage heals quickly, we have revealed part of the cause of genetic premature aging.”