Model organisms as tools for ageing research Flashcards
What are some models for ageing?
- Yeast single cell
- Worms simple metazoan
- Fruit flies
- Mice
What needs to be considered when choosing an ageing model?
- Quick growing organisms
- Limitless food supply
- Unnatural sexual selection
*Complexity of tissues or gentic
*Animal rights
What is the Latin name for budding yeast?
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Why is budding yeast a good ageing model?
Easy to grow, manipulate, genetics and molecular genetics
What are the two measures of ageing?
- Replicative ageing.
- Chronological ageing.
What is replicative ageing?
Characterized by a finite number of divisions for individual cells.
What is chronological ageing?
Describes the loss of viability occurring when cells are maintained in the stationary phase.
What is Clonal or Replicative Senescence?
Characterized by a finite number of population
doubling times
What is the telomere hypothesis of ageing
Sufficient telomere loss on one or more chromosomes in normal somatic cells triggers cell senescence.
What are telomere capping proteins?
Telomere-binding proteins function to generate a T-loop, which is a specialized loop structure to cap the telomeric ends.
What is the function of telomere capping?
They serve as protection against premature degradation as the telomere ends are no longer hidden from damage detection.
What is the Latin name for worms?
Caenorhabditis elegans
How many cells does a worm have?
959.
Why is a worm a great ageing model?
Hermaphrodite
Egg to Egg takes 3 days
Eat bacteria
How long do mice live?
In the wild less than a year
In the lab 2-3 years
