Genomic instability is the tendency for your genes to become unstable due to DNA damage caused by or in parallel with aging. This is primarily a result of cellular senescence, DNA damage, or the inevitable errors involved in cellular replication.

Now, let me say right up front that these are highly technical subjects, and the links I just gave you might be daunting. I promise that I will make them as simple as possible, but before we get started, let’s define a gene.

In simple terms, a gene is a piece of DNA that determines your physical characteristics—for example, air color, right, intelligence, and skin color. Genes are passed on from parents to children, and this is why we tend to look and act like our parents.

Here is a more formal definition. Genes make us what we are by producing building blocks for our bodies. These blocks are proteins that genes create and manage through the building process.

Genomic instability and aging.

It’s not really clear which one of these causes the other. Does aging cause instability or the other way around? Most likely, this is a situation that feeds on itself. Let’s look at three contributors to genomic instability:

First: Cellular death and senescence. As cells age, in a healthy situation, they die and are replaced. Sometimes, however, they linger on and spread bad DNA.

Second: DNA gets damaged in many ways and from many sources. X-rays and chemical toxins are examples. There is a repair process for damaged DNA, and in a healthy environment, if the DNA strand cannot be repaired the cell is destroyed.

Third: DNA replication in new cells is not always perfect, and defective DNA might result. In this case, the DNA might be repairable or the cell (think cancer cell) is taken out by the immune system.

All three of these mechanisms are present in a healthy environment.

Before going further, though, let’s look at a simplified list of DNA repair steps.
Genomic instability is discussed here with an illustration of a DNA double helix and strands of amino acids between the spiral wires of the helix.

  1. Identify the damaged portion of the strand and loosen it with special enzymes called DNA glycosylases.
  2. Dissolve the chemical anchors of the strand to the “spiral wires” of the double helix and remove the strand.
  3. Replace the strand with the correct nucleotide.
  4. Ligation – attaching or gluing the strand to the spiral wires.

All these steps are done with the assistance of enzymes. The link above gives you more in-depth information.

As you can see from the glycosylase link I gave you above, DNA repair is a complex undertaking that goes on constantly. The little lines or strings you see in the picture are different sequences of four amino acids. This type of coding is similar to computer assembly language using 0 and 1 sequencing.

When these strands get broken or damaged, they need to be repaired. This process is complex and beyond the scope of this article.

My purpose is to make complex processes simple for my readers, who might not be technically sophisticated. For those of you who want deeper looks into the subjects I discuss, I usually offer links like the one above to help you get a “deeper dive” into the complexity of issues.

So now let’s talk about how breaks (damages) occur, and then we’ll talk about break prevention and repair tips.

DNA damage types:

Cellular death and senescence:

Cells have an age range based on their internal clock. When they start to falter, they replicate themselves and commit suicide. Your immune system can sense this decline and if the cell doesn’t kill itself, your immune system will.

With age, these janitorial cleanup systems begin to falter and thus, genomic instability sets in. These forces feed each other, and the breakdown accelerates with time.

So, aging leads inexorably to genomic instability. The exact mechanisms of senescence are not known but are an intense area of anti-aging study.

DNA damage from external forces:

External forces like sunlight and X-rays can and do damage DNA. This is also true of exposure to chemical toxicity, including chemotherapy.

Physical damage like cuts, bruises, and physical stresses like stretching and pinching also cause DNA damage.

Strength training with resistance methods causes muscle DNA damage as well. Interestingly, however, skeletal muscles not only undergo repair after resistance training, but actually grow younger with repair. See this discussion: strength training. (We will come back to this.)

Cell replication errors:
This is graphic illustration of cellular mitosis.

In simple terms, when a cell is ready, it begins a process called mitosis which is a word for self-replication. Again, mitosis is not a simple process, and a lot of steps are involved.

Mitosis is an example of the replication of a complex system, which is always subject to errors and incompleteness. These errors carry forward to future iterations of mitosis, each one with new errors. During our lifetimes, these replication errors accumulate and eventually start to create problems and inefficiencies in organs.

This erosion is not repairable and is a major contributor to aging.

Summing up DNA damage:

Damage to DNA is inevitable. Time is the culprit underlying each source of damage. Some of this damage is repairable and some of it isn’t. Unfortunately, repair mechanisms falter with age as well.

So, we get back to the question of whether aging causes DNA damage or the other way around. It is, however, fairly easy to establish that the ability to repair DNA damage diminishes with age. The increasing incidence of cancer with age is an example of dysfunctional DNA.

Now, since this is true, and can be said for many other conditions, the secret to a long life might be (in part) focusing on the maintenance of optimal DNA repair mechanisms.

Maintaining DNA repair mechanisms.

Above all else, staying healthy is the best overall way to maintain optimal DNA repair mechanisms. On this website, I have provided many articles and tips for staying healthy in my PLANNED LONGEVITY™ master toolbox. Please explore it and use the information. I add to this databank weekly, so you might want to subscribe below to get an email when I post new material.

Let’s be honest here:

Do you smoke? Cigarette smoking releases free radicals that attack your DNA. Since smoking is a useless habit, stop, and you will be doing something to preserve your healthy DNA. This is an obvious example that most people are aware of.

How about eating junk food? Here, I’m talking about living on junk food. If you are, you’re getting lots of free radicals to attack your DNA and almost no foods (anti-oxidants) that block the actions of free radicals. Find out how to follow a healthy diet here.

Never exercise? If this is true, you are denying your organs the blood flow that delivers the nutrients that support healthy organs. (Assuming you’re eating a healthy diet.) Here’s a simple exercise program that anyone can do.

Here’s more good news: Resistance exercise reduces the age of muscles. Did I say reduce the age? Yes, I did – read the article I linked above to see the scientific evidence.

Well, I could go on, but I think you’re getting the point. All of these things are known to keep you healthy, but they’re not expressed in terms of preventing genomic instability – the message of this post.

Instead of saying health, let’s substitute genomic stability and DNA repair instead. Maybe a large part of healthy longevity is working towards genomic stability – something to think about.

So, is there something you can take to help genomic stability along? Well, yes and no.

NMN–A NAD+Activator and Anti-Aging Molecule:

NMN is a fascinating supplement in that it does so many things in the complex processes of cell metabolism. It and similar molecules in supplement form might hold answers to mitochondrial health, energy production, genomic stability, and anti-aging.

Unfortunately, thanks to the FDA, this supplement is not currently available in the US. I won’t get bogged down in this; you can Google it.

In the meantime, after reading the above link, and while the FDA does its investigation (don’t hold your breath), you can take 50 mg of nicotinamide three times a day and probably enjoy NMN’s effects. If you read the suggested link, you’ll see why.

Nicotinamide is an over-the-counter supplement, and you don’t need any approvals to get it.

For my friends outside the US, you can probably get NMN.

NMN is a peek into the future of genomic stability supplements and drugs. But it also has many other benefits. Anti-aging might be a product of stabilizing the genome and DNA repair. NMN plays a role in this.

This is now an intense field of study – Google NMN and you’ll get pages of information.

Now, as I always say, don’t take nicotinamide or NMN because I do. Do your research and make the best decision for yourself.

DNA damage and cumulative replication errors that are unrepairable. What can we do?

These are tough questions, and the answer here is futuristic. We simply develop the technology to grow new organs.

Ok, but where do you go for this?

Well, this technology is well underway. Here is an interesting article with lots of links to follow. Regeneration of organs is no longer science fiction. Human livers can and do regenerate themselves. This is a fact.

We just have to discover the mechanisms.

We are also close to re-creating organs from a single healthy cell.

I’m not saying these things are here now; I’m saying that many of us will see them in our lifetime. Since the arc of technology is exponential, this will happen sooner than we think.

Personally, I can see medical scientists growing organs in a lab from stem cells that have “clean” DNA. This eliminates the accumulated errors of old organs. This too is being worked on as this is written.

Conclusion:

Genomic instability is only one hallmark of aging. It is, however, a field that is rapidly advancing. Keep watching for more advances. Like I’ve said about aging in general, there are many things you can do about it right now. This is also true about protecting your genome and helping it stay stable longer.

A day might come when we can regenerate our genomes. Medical science is now using genetic manipulations to treat diseases that were heretofore untreatable. All I can say is stay tuned and check out my PLANNED LONGEVITY™ series for practical health advice on living a long and healthy life.

Now, before I go:

Here is a link to a fascinating series of podcasts about genetic manipulation and its possibilities.

OMY1

Did you miss my previous article? Check it out here:

If you liked this article, please recommend it to a friend. Assure your friend most of my articles are free, and visitors don’t need to give me any information unless they want notifications when I post new newsletters. 

Note: This article will appear in my HALLMARKS OF AGING series under GENOMIC INSTABILITY.

To return to the HOME page now, click “PLANNED LONGEVITY™” on your top left and look for my Avitar – this marker signals you’re on the home page.

But before you go:

Many of my Newsletters are Free, and You Don’t Want to Miss One…

Subscribing ensures you’ll get an email notification when I post new or upgraded newsletters.

Just leave your email, and I’ll take care of the rest:

(You can also use the signup option in the footer – just below the comments section.)

____________________

Disclaimer: From time to time, I will make a suggestion directing you to a specific product or service. I will make a small amount of money if you purchase any of these. This will not cost you anything extra, and it helps keep theOMYs.com’s free content accessible to anyone seeking this information.

____________________

NOTE: This post has a comments section at the bottom. This is also a sign-up form; You are asked for your username and email to discourage spamming. You can also click the button to get an email when I post my newsletters. Once you have made your first comment, you will be remembered, and will not be asked for this information again on any of my newsletters.