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Pure-Challenge9656 t1_j9h4c3i wrote

Reply to comment by NickOnMars in Scientists make stunning discovery, find new protein activity in telomeres by NadiyaJeba

What I don’t get is that if telomeres shorten with aging, shouldn’t their capacity to produce these proteins decrease? Is rising levels in the blood with age solely due to production from cancerous cells?

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HelixFish t1_j9iskmc wrote

That’s a good thought! DNA and RNA have many regulatory elements though which can cause proteins to be made or to stop them from being made. It could be that a regulatory element on the ends of the telomeres stop these toxic proteins from being made, but when we age and the telomeres shorten the regulatory elements get lost. This causes the toxic proteins to be made, causing age related damage.

ELI5: The off switch for the toxic proteins could be on the ends of the telomeres, and when they shorten the switch gets turned on, causing age related damage.

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