A new model, made by researchers from Australia, made it possible to find out the life expectancy of ancient people (Neanderthal and later - "Denisov" man), as well as a mammoth. This is stated in the scientific journal Scientific Reports.
Animals have different lifespan. So, certain species of mice live only a few years. At the same time, the polar shark that lives in the waters of Greenland can live for 4 centuries. Biologists believe that life expectancy is determined at the genetic level. However, scientists were not able to find the genes that determine the high duration of existence.
A group of biologists led by Benjamin Maine (Indian Ocean Research Office) established this parameter by epigenetic analysis. Methyl radicals attached to the cytosine residues in the deoxyribonucleic acid molecule were used. These labels do not alter the structure of DNA or RNA, but they regulate the activity of genes. It is proved that the nature of the studied objects changes, and they determine the age of a living organism.
Next, scientists collected various genomes of vertebrates. They studied the characteristics of the location of labels on more than forty different genes. So the biologists managed to build a model that predicts the longest life depending on how the sequences of ordinary nucleotides that make up the DNA behave. These sequences are located in the starting regions of the genes.
Scientists chose the genes responsible for different functions and so that there was not the slightest connection between them. The resulting model displayed the life span of each species. The accuracy of the data was about 95 percent.
After evaluating models of living species, scientists determined the life expectancy of individual extinct species. It turned out that Denisov’s man (a kind of intelligent man who lived in the Altai Territory of Russia) and Neanderthal man could live until about 38 years old. To this age, a humanoid monkey survives today. The age limit of mammoths was sixty years. - about the same as modern elephants live.
This model is highly accurate. But its creators note that it is not without flaws. After all, it is built on data on the life expectancy of only known species today and does not include extinct ones. And this data may not be entirely accurate. But the life span of many living creatures is determined in captivity. Finally, scientists might not meet the most long-lived individuals.
Such a discovery may shed light on the problem of determining the life expectancy of ancient people. Information will help recreate the characteristics of the lives of people living several million years ago. Indeed, today everything that we know about the life of people during the Stone Age is known thanks to the study of fossil material remains by archaeologists.
