Genetic Surprises

Some seriously weird things are springing out of the twisted tangle of our DNA.

by Jerold M. Lowenstein

Excerpt from the December 1992 issue, of Discover Magazine (published online December 1, 1992)

. . . Alternatively, some other newfound oddities, the Methuselah genes, may lengthen the lives of their carriers. The genes (named for the most long-lived man in the Bible) were found in fruit flies by Michael Rose, a geneticist at the University of California at Irvine. Last February, Rose reported that one of these genes makes a souped-up version of superoxide dismutase, an enzyme that mops up highly reactive molecules called free radicals. Like acid rain, these radicals attack and damage any bodily structures they come in contact with. Biologists have suspected for at least two decades that they are largely responsible for the aging process . . .

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