Aging, oxygen muscles & mitochondria…all related. In one published analysis, genes regulating oxygen consumption are closely tied with aging.

Genetics geeks (us included) will appreciate the laboriousness of relabeling genetic information so that it is useful.

Table 2 shows a list of genes associated with aging from research at Skåne University and Lund University.

Here is one an excerpt (our emphasis):

We find 957 genes to be significantly associated with aging (p < 0.05, FDR = 5 %, n = 361). Aging was associated with perturbation of many central metabolic pathways like mitochondrial function including reduced expression of genes in the ATP synthase, NADH dehydrogenase, cytochrome C reductase and oxidase complexes, as well as in glucose and pyruvate processing. … We also discover genes previously not linked to muscle aging and metabolism, such as fasciculation and elongation protein zeta 2 (FEZ2, p = 2.8 × 10⁻⁸). Out of the 957 genes associated with aging, 21 (p < 0.001, false discovery rate = 5 %, n = 116) were also associated with maximal oxygen consumption (VO_2MAX). Strikingly, 20 out of those 21 genes are regulated in opposite direction when comparing increasing age with increasing VO_2MAX.

For those unfamiliar, VO2 max measures how well you recover from oxygen depleting activities (think, running out of breath).

The last line is therefore fascinating: genes regulating oxygen consumption are closely tied with aging.

Here is the link to the full article. Thanks for reading.