Reasons to love the naked mole-rat
Oct. 6th, 2013 10:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunsen_hRecent research has shown that the naked mole-rat has a unique variant ribosomal RNA structure. This appears to significantly reduce errors in DNA replication / transcription compared to other animals, and is believed to be a cause of the animal's remarkably long lifespan and low susceptibility to cancer. The animal lives for about 30 years, while other animals around the same size would have a lifespan more like 3 years.
In order to apply this to humans, I think we'd have to splice the coding for the variant RNA into our own genes (and, of course, knock out the existing RNA coding). I'm not sure if it would be feasible except at the egg/sperm stage, i.e. genetic engineering from the start. Tricky stuff, but not too far beyond current technology, I think. Given the potential rewards, I wouldn't be surprised if the extremely-wealthy, rules-are-for-other-people types started having extremely long-lived offspring starting in a couple of decades, with the first bad side effects to start showing up only a few years later. ("Why didn't you test this first? Why didn't you know this would be a problem?")
Luckily for the population-catastrophists, the 1000-year-lifespan humans will be pre-adapted to living in crowded masses underground.
In order to apply this to humans, I think we'd have to splice the coding for the variant RNA into our own genes (and, of course, knock out the existing RNA coding). I'm not sure if it would be feasible except at the egg/sperm stage, i.e. genetic engineering from the start. Tricky stuff, but not too far beyond current technology, I think. Given the potential rewards, I wouldn't be surprised if the extremely-wealthy, rules-are-for-other-people types started having extremely long-lived offspring starting in a couple of decades, with the first bad side effects to start showing up only a few years later. ("Why didn't you test this first? Why didn't you know this would be a problem?")
Luckily for the population-catastrophists, the 1000-year-lifespan humans will be pre-adapted to living in crowded masses underground.
