Fact: Parental age affect how long offspring live
By: Team Ifairer | Posted: 18-01-2016
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"Telomeres function a bit like the plastic caps at the ends of shoelaces and protect the coding DNA from loss during cell division. Telomere loss reduces the lifespan of cells and is thought to be involved in the ageing process," said one of the researchers Britt Heidinger, assistant professor of biological sciences at North Dakota State University, Fargo, US.
Individuals with longer telomeres or slower rates of telomere loss have been shown to have greater longevity in a wide range of species.