Hydractinia, a peculiar tube-shaped animal that lives in the shells of crabs, shows complete immunity to aging. But until now, scientists didn’t know the exact reasons why these immortal sea creatures are immune to aging. A new study seems to finally offer an answer. According to new research published on Cell Reports, Hydractinia can actually use aging to create an entirely new body.
This development provides a much better understanding of how these immortal creatures continue to live even when they should probably be dead. Research like this can open new doors in our understanding of how aging occurs in the human body, says Charles Rotimo, co-author of the paper and director of the National Human Genome Research Institute’s (NHGRI) Intramural Research Program, Newsweek reported.
Scientists had previously discovered that Hydractinia has special stem cells that it uses to regenerate tissue in its body. These stem cells have the ability to turn into any type of cell in the body of a living thing. More specialized cells, such as those found in muscle and heart tissue, cannot do this. These cells seem to be the features that enable immortal sea creatures to develop new body parts.
The researchers continued their deeper exploration, finding that a particular set of genes appeared to be associated with the immortality of this strange little creature. These genes basically allow the creature to participate in a special “aging” process that allows it to repair and regrow body parts. The researchers found that when this gene set was removed, Hydractinia was unable to regrow body parts and regenerate new stem cells.
It is hoped that a better understanding of creatures like Hydractinia, and even other creatures that use similar methods to regrow body parts and repair damage, will help us understand how our own cells age, and perhaps find a way to slow it down.
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