Porject Description

In higher organisms, the information for the respective organism as a whole is stored in each cell nucleus in the form of DNA molecules. This includes the synthesis programmes of the control molecules for both the reactions for life cycles and reproduction. However, since DNA molecules are a rather vulnerable type of molecule, evolution of today's living world could only be solved by the development of effective DNA repair systems. It is in the nature of things that with the huge number of damages hitting the DNA programmes and the acts repairing them, not inconsiderable numbers of errors occur. From this in turn follows that with increasing life span, DNA damage can increasingly accumulate. In the meantime, methods have been developed, also in Mainz, which sensitively detect DNA changes. In the largest DNA damage statistics ever compiled on humans, it was possible to show how DNA strand breaks occur in the striated musculature, correlated with increasing age, which are even more pronounced in smokers. In the meantime, animal experiments are underway that document the different ways in which different organs are affected in the same individual and in which, in addition, the mode of temporal succession, including repair capabilities, is being investigated. In the background of these studies is the question of whether and to what extent DNA changes can play a role in the ageing process.