How the key to looking young could be hidden in the ocean: Sea cucumbers can 'change the elasticity of collagen in their bodies'
- Elasticity in collagen leads to wrinkles in the skin - but some sea creatures appear to exert control over this function
- Rapid decrease in gene sequencing costs - from millions of pounds to thousands of pounds - allows scientists to explore more areas of genetics
Sea cucumbers and sea urchins are able to change the elasticity of collagen within their bodies, and could hold the key to maintaining a youthful appearance.
Scientists at Queen Mary, University of London investigated the genes of marine creatures such as sea urchins and sea cucumbers, known as echinoderms.
They found the genes for 'messenger molecules' known as peptides, which are released by cells and tell other cells in their bodies what to do.
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| Looking good: A sea cucumber could hold the key to younger skin, as they can change the elasticity of their collagen |
Project leader Professor Maurice Elphick, from Queen Mary's School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, said: 'Probably the most exciting discovery from our research was finding genes encoding peptides that cause rapid stiffening or softening of collagen in the body wall of sea cucumbers.
'Although sea urchins and sea cucumbers may not look much like us, we are actually quite closely related to them.
'As we get older, changes in collagen cause wrinkling of our skin, so if we can find out how peptides cause the body wall of a sea cucumber to quickly become stiff or soft then our research might lead to new ways to keeping skin looking young and healthy.'
The scientists analysed the DNA sequences of thousands of genes in the purple sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus and the edible sea cucumber Apostichopus japonicus and specifically searched for genes encoding peptide messenger molecules.
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| Sea urchins and sea cucumbers, known as echinoderms, could hold the key to looking young |
Rapid advances in technology used to sequence genes made the research possible.
'We also found that sea urchins have a peptide that is very similar to calcitonin, a hormone that regulates our bones to make sure that they remain strong,' Professor Elphick said.
'So it will be fascinating to find out if calcitonin-type peptides have a similar sort of role in spiny-skinned creatures like sea urchins.
'These types of advances in basic science are fascinating in their own right but they are also important because they underpin the medical breakthroughs that lead to improvement in the quality of people's lives.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2211727/How-key-looking-young-hidden-ocean-Sea-cucumbers-change-elasticity-collagen-bodies.html
