Key points from article :
Researchers have found that CLOCK also fights cellular senescence by promoting chromatin stability.
CLOCK deficiency is known to reduce lifespan and promote age-related pathologies.
Authors chose human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) as main subjects.
Age-related degradation of the circadian machinery happens during cellular ageing.
As well as organismal ageing, the study confirmed.
Amplitude dampening, period lengthening of the circadian cycles in ageing MSCs, found.
Genetically modified CLOCK-deficient MSCs demonstrated dysregulated circadian rhythms.
Also reached senescence much earlier and exhibited extensive DNA damage.
Downregulation of CLOCK during cellular ageing resulted in destabilization of heterochromatin.
Which, in turn, led to increased transcription of repetitive genomic sequences.
Upregulation of CLOCK could potentially become a two-pronged anti-ageing intervention.
Researchers from University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, published in Cell Research.
