4 ms·

I assume that this is far from unique to humans, but not quite universal. I wonder whether the "immortal jellyfish" turritopsis dohrnii has some telomere rebuil

I assume that this is far from unique to humans, but not quite universal. I wonder whether the "immortal jellyfish" turritopsis dohrnii has some telomere rebuilding mechanism for all cells that provide its age-defying abilities. I also wonder whether there is a second advantage to telomere depletion; reducing the instances of organisms from different generations carrying the same genes competing for resources. After all, we're here for the benefit of our genes, not the other way round.

toufka 11y ago
We do know that smaller (shorter lived) mammals at least have significantly shorter telomeres than humans. Here's a paper comparing max life span (MLS) against body temperature, body mass, and telomere length. [1] [1] http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3680702/figure/F1/ http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3680702/figure/F...