Mothers play a crucial role in determining how quickly their children grow old by passing on genetic mutations that speed up the aging process leading to a shorter lifespan, a study suggests.
Scientists have found that inherited mutations in the DNA of the mitochondria – the tiny “power packs” of the cells that are always inherited solely from mothers – can accelerate aging in mice.
A study has shown that when mutations are artificially created in mitochondrial DNA, the resulting offspring of the affected female mice aged significantly faster than the offspring of unaffected females.
Read the full, original story here: Blame your mum if the years have not been kind: study says mothers pass on ‘ageing gene’
