Aging Is a Communication Breakdown

Aging cells begin to teeter into states of uncertainty in which they can no longer reliably conserve DNA methylation information. How responsive and sensitive a gene is to the machinery regulating its DNA methylation—so called “entropic sensitivity”—is critical for a cell’s function. As a motivating example, the authors looked at methylation over a short region in the WNT1 gene, which builds a signaling protein key to cell fate decisions, meaning the commitment a cell makes to become a specific differentiated form, such as an intestinal cell.

Source: nautil.us