Media Advisory

Thursday, June 23, 2022

What can turtles and other tetrapods tell us about longevity?

NIH-funded research reveals aging rates vary and evolutionary tricks such as armor and venom have influence.

What

Looking at data from more than 100 different animals, researchers have revealed some insights into aging that may help better understand longevity in humans. The study showed that cold-blooded, four-legged animals — also known as ectothermic tetrapods — can age very quickly, or extremely slowly.

Ectotherms are animals that rely on heat from their environment to regulate their body temperature, and tetrapods are vertebrate animals with four limbs. The category of ectothermic tetrapods includes non-avian reptiles, such as turtles; and amphibians, such as salamanders.

The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging at the National Institutes of Health and published in Science, also revealed that aging rates decrease in species with slow-paced lives. In addition, the data suggest that animals with protective traits, such as armor, venom, shells, and spines, exhibit slower aging rates. When comparing ectoderms with endotherms (the category of warm-blooded organisms that includes mammals and most birds), the research team found that ectotherms have a higher diversity of aging rates. This evolutionary study on aging may help researchers better understand aging in humans.

Researchers contributed data from 107 animals from around the world, representing 77 species of reptiles and amphibians in the wild. The scientists examined four different factors to determine whether they contributed to aging: thermoregulation, or the ability of warm-blooded animals to maintain body temperature; environmental temperature; protective traits; and pace of life. They found that turtles, crocodiles, and salamanders have significantly low aging rates and are long-lived for their size. Species with protective traits lived longer than those with no protection. Estimates of ectotherm longevity ranged from 1 year to 137 years.

Who

  • Ronald Kohanski, Ph.D., Director, NIA Division of Aging Biology
  • Manuel Moro, D.V.M., Ph.D., NIA Health Scientist Administrator

This research was supported by NIH grant R01AG049416.

Reference

Reinke BA, et al. Diverse aging rates in ectothermic tetrapods provide insights for the evolution of aging and longevity. Science. 2022; doi:10.1126/science.abm0151.

About the National Institute on Aging (NIA): NIA leads the U.S. federal government effort to conduct and support research on aging and the health and well-being of older people. Learn more about age-related cognitive change and neurodegenerative diseases via NIA’s Alzheimer's and related Dementias Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center website. Visit the main NIA website for information about a range of aging topics, in English and Spanish, and stay connected.

About the National Institutes of Health (NIH): NIH, the nation's medical research agency, includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov.

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