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.