Bowhead whales can live up to 200 years making them the world's longest-living mammal. Scientists who mapped the genomes of the animal said that the whale's genetic patterns could also hold the key that could prolong the life of humans.
In two separate studies, scientists from the U.S. and the U.K mapped the genome of the bowhead whale and discovered the genes responsible for the whale's remarkable longevity that are also associated with resistance to cancer and DNA damage repair.
Unlike other mammals that die before reaching 100 years old, bowhead whales, which can grow up to 66 feet in length and weigh up to 98 long tons, can reach up to two centuries old, which is why scientists have long been interested in understanding how and why the bowheads tend to outlive other species of whales and avoid illnesses such as cancer and heart disease.
In the UK-based study conducted at the Liverpool Centre for Genomics Research, Joao Pedro de Magalhaes, from the Liverpool University, and colleagues compared the genes of the bowhead with that of a minke whale, which has an average lifespan of 30 to 50 years, and found that the bowhead has distinct mutations in two genes associated with lifespan in animals.
These particular genes were the ERCC1 gene, known to repair DNA, slow ageing and increase resistance to cancer, and the PCNA gene, which is also believed to be linked with DNA repair.
Magalhaes said that the discovery could pave way to these particular genes being used to help people enjoy a longer life. He said he wants to insert these genes into mice to see whether or not these will improve their resistance to cancer.
If the mice experiment is successful, the scientist look forward to conducting tests on humans, which could be done by either using drugs to activate the genes that already exist inside the body or by incorporating the genes of the whale into human cells that will be inserted back into people.
"My ideal next experiment is to take a gene from the bowhead whale and put it in a mouse and see if that mouse will live longer and be protected against cancer," Magalhaes told [subscription required] the Sunday Times. "If they do what I expect them to do, then we could try to think of ways to employ the knowledge for [human] therapeutic purposes."
Researchers from Harvard Medical School who analyzed the genes of the bowhead have also come up with similar findings. They also proposed that similar genetic patterns can be found in other long-living animals such as the Brandt's bat and the naked mole rat.
