Caffeine, Alcohol and High Temperature Affect Telomere Length

Gal-Hagit Romano

Abstract:

Environmental stress affects every aspect of our life. Living cells are constantly exposed to environmental changes and stressful perturbations that affect them and can damage the cells in many levels. The cellular response to environmental challenges has been intensively studied in several model organisms. Yet, the long term and the short term effects of different stress are largely unknown.
Here, we focus on the effect of environmental stress on telomere length. Telomere length is associated with aging, cell senescence and longevity and several diseases in humans. To examine whether different environmental stresses promote changes in telomere length, and to explore the mechanism in which stress effect telomere length, we have exposed yeast cells to a set of different mild environmental stresses. We have shown that Alcoholic stress like ethanol, methanol, and iso-propanol significantly elongates telomeres. Other stresses, such as, caffeine and high temperature have been found to enhance telomere shortening.