Abstract
We reported previously1,2 the age-dependent appearance of extrachromosomal circular DNA bands hybridizing to a human DNA fragment (‘inter-Alu’), isolated from a genomic cluster of AluI repeats3. Such bands appeared or increased at late passage in four out of six human fibroblast strains (six out of nine cell expansions); moreover, all DNAs (9/9) obtained from peripheral lymphocytes of aged donors, but none (0/8) from young donors, revealed a non-genomic inter-Alu band at ≃4.8 kilobases (kb)1,2. Subsequent data extended these numbers to 16/24 aged donors compared with 0/18 young donors4. These results were interpreted as evidence of age-dependent DNA rearrangement in normal human cells1,2. We now report that the ‘extra’ bands were of microbial origin, although clearly occurring in an age-dependent manner.
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Shmookler Reis, R., Lumpkin, C., McGill, J. et al. Amplification of inter-Alu extrachromosomal DNA during cellular ageing: retraction and explanation. Nature 316, 167 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1038/316167a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/316167a0
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