Is immortality a dream? New York University reveals the longevity mechanism of queen ants, which may be applicable to humans
Lifespan and reproduction are the two most basic attributes of living things. Interestingly, for most organisms, the price of reproduction is a shortened lifespan.
Species that reproduce frequently tend to have shorter lifespans, while species that live longer are generally less fertile. There are many examples in nature. For example, ginkgo trees can live up to a thousand years, only bloom and bear fruit once every 20 years, and the yield is very low. The lifespan of an apple tree is only 30-40 years, and it will bloom and bear fruit every year.
(Picture: Ginkgo tree)
However, there are always some creatures that are special cases in nature. The bees in the same hive have almost identical genomes, among them the queen bee bears the reproductive responsibility in the bee colony, but its life span is longer than that of the "worker" worker bees who do not give birth and only collect honey. is much longer. Similarly, there is only one queen ant in the ant nest, but there are thousands of worker ants. The queen ant takes on the responsibility of reproduction, and its lifespan is much longer than that of the worker ants.
But there is also a special kind of ant called jumping sickle fierce ant . When the queen ant in the nest is missing, jumping sickle fierce ant can transform its role and identity, transforming from a worker ant. "Becoming a queen with reproductive functions, this phenomenon is vividly compared to the worker ants opening the "player door". By opening the "player door", the worker ants can "unlock" the super long life.
However, when they are placed in an environment with a queen, these ants that have opened the "player door" will return to the worker ant state, and their life span will be correspondingly shortened to the normal level of worker ants .
This magical phenomenon has aroused the interest of a team of scientists including Danny Reinburg and Hua Yan from New York University. They believe that the mechanism of the relationship between reproduction and longevity may be hidden behind this phenomenon.
(Picture: Queen Ant)
(Picture: Worker Ant)
After research, scientists found that in these ants that opened the "player door", the secretion level of insulin was significantly increased, leading to the synthesis of egg cells, and then Promotes the synthesis of lipids and vitellogenin.
The negative feedback regulation mechanism is widely present in organisms. It is an inhibitory regulation mechanism that protects organisms from fatal damage due to a substance whose content changes drastically.
Therefore, in response to increased insulin levels, expression of the insulin receptor is reduced in ants that have opened the "player gate" and their developing ovaries also secrete anti-insulin, resulting in AKT in the fat body. The /FOXO branch pathway is down-regulated, thereby significantly extending the lifespan of ants. This mechanism explains why insulin levels have a significant role in regulating lifespan.
In recent years, the relationship between insulin levels and life span has aroused great interest among scientists. It’s not just animal research, there are also some research results on the relationship between insulin levels and human life span. Some studies have found that people who live longer tend to have stronger glucose metabolism and stronger insulin sensitivity. These positive research results are revealing the impact of insulin on life span. I believe that in the near future, the relationship between insulin and immortality will be clarified.
