Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

Pan-mammalian methylation clocks reveal evolutionarily conserved aging effects

Nature Aging volume 3, pages 1055–1056 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Leveraging a single regression model based on conserved cytosines, we can now measure age in all mammalian tissues. This pan-mammalian epigenetic clock model confirms that aging is conserved across mammalian species at select regions of the DNA, which will accelerate the applicability of research findings from model organisms to humans.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: Universal pan-mammalian epigenetic clocks and maximum lifespan.

References

  1. Horvath, S. DNA methylation age of human tissues and cell types. Genome Biol. 14, 3156 (2013). This article presents a pan-tissue epigenetic clock for human cells.

  2. Horvath, S. & Raj, K. DNA methylation-based biomarkers and the epigenetic clock theory of ageing. Nat. Rev. Genet. 19, 371–384 (2018). A review that discusses epigenetic clocks and a related aging theory.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Arneson, A., Haghani, A., Ernst, J. & Horvath, S. A mammalian methylation array for profiling methylation levels at conserved sequences. Nat. Commun. 13, 783 (2022). This article describes the mammalian methylation array platform.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Gems, D. The hyperfunction theory: an emerging paradigm for the biology of aging. Ageing Res. Rev. 74, 101557 (2022). This article reviews pseudo-programmatic and hyperfunction theories of aging.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  5. de Magalhães, J. P. Ageing as a software design flaw. Genome Biol. 24, 51 (2023). This article explores the hypothesis that aging is caused by a software design flaw.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Lu, A. T. et al. Universal DNA methylation age across mammalian tissues. Nat. Aging https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00462-6 (2023)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Pan-mammalian methylation clocks reveal evolutionarily conserved aging effects. Nat Aging 3, 1055–1056 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00463-5

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43587-023-00463-5

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing