Can DNA tested tell us how to increase the longevity of all the parts of our bodies?
by Rae and Mark on Sunday, January 25th, 2009 | No Comments
In synch dunky ducky asked:
There are many types of organic and carbonbase rocks with diferent properties. It is better than thinking about hving a body transpant.
Sugar is organic and is turned inro hard candy. Coal was a tree and is turned into clothing. Iron is found in food and as iron ore that can be turn into steel. All products decay in time like our DNA. I watch too much TV. That is a good question.
Kim
There are many types of organic and carbonbase rocks with diferent properties. It is better than thinking about hving a body transpant.
Sugar is organic and is turned inro hard candy. Coal was a tree and is turned into clothing. Iron is found in food and as iron ore that can be turn into steel. All products decay in time like our DNA. I watch too much TV. That is a good question.
Kim
In some respects it can but unfortunately what you were born with is yours. For the future world, as technology advances it will be interesting to see what happens as you can at present (if you have lots of $$$) alter the DNA of a foetus pre-existing conditions, but not all. You want to live as long as you can – live clean – stay happy – laugh a LOT – control your temper – eat properly – don’t smoke (anything) – drink in moderation – I know your joking about a “body transplant” – as that will NEVER happen… you will definitely be dead by then if ever.
DNA testing cannot at present give accurate information about projected lifespans. It is especially inaccurate at finding the durability of individual bodyparts.
What DNA testing can do is find what diseases you are genetically susceptible to. These data points can be used by an actuary to attempt to project your actual lifespan. However, actuaries try to take into account a much wider span of variables than DNA tests alone. An actuary with knowledge only of the diseases one is genetically susceptible to would likely generate a very inaccurate number.
In the future, genetic therapy may be a possibility for handling certain of these genetic diseases, but insofar as I know this is not presently an option.
Might do. I think it’s possible for those of us under 40 to live to be 200, assuming medical tech keeps on advancing, and assuming that we don’t all die because of some man-made disaster.
we are getting there.
I hate to be blunt, but there is about a 0.00000001% chance that DNA could ever be used to tell us about the longevity of all of our body parts. Every human starts out with the same type of sexual and somatic cells in the blastula stage of development. Every one of the somatic cells go through a process of morphogenesis, in which those cells pass over a cleft and are given a “cell death” and a differentiation factor that will eventually lead them to be either a liver cell, lung cell, etc. Your question is kind of like trying to look at the 26 letters of the alphabet and then trying to create a sentence. It is possible to make some mumbled words, but it is VERY VERY unlikely that you would ever be able to create a workable sentence.