Telomere is a biomarker for longevity in Japan

Abstract

Telomere is a repeated sequence of DNA attached to the end of chromosome. The function of telomere is to protect the genome that is vulnerable to DNAses., oxidative stress, and radiationHowever, the eukaryotic cells are subjected to lose certain amounts of telomere sequence during cellular replication. The telomere length of embryo and newborn showed 15 Kb and 10Kb, suggesting that one third of telomere lost during embryogenesis. The study of telomere length of peripheral blood both men and women suggest that individuals with longer telomere are likely survive longer than the individuals with short telomere, showing that the telomere is a biomarker of longevity. Epidemiological study also suggested that obesity and smoking habit show the negative impact on telomere length, suggesting that not only the cell division but also lifestyle influence on telomere length. Therefore, we study the telomere length of village people in Nagano prefecture because life expectancy of people is the longest in Japan, where medical expenditure is lowest and employment rate is highest in Japan. Interestingly, the woman with the longest telomere works for apple orchard garden while the man with the longest telomere works for grape garden, suggesting the lifestyle in orchard garden in Nagano prefecture would provide the ideal environmental factors which elongate the telomere or suppress the loss of telomere. I will discuss the possibility that resveratrol, the polyphenol contained in the skin of grape, activates SIRT6 gene and protect telomere.