Abstract
Sea urchins are a minor class of marine invertebrates that share genetic similarities with humans. For example, the sea urchin species Strongylocentrotus purpuratus is estimated to have 23,300 genes in which the majority of vertebrate gene families are enveloped. Some of the sea urchin species can demonstrate extreme longevity, such as Mesocentrotus franciscanus, living for well over 100 years. Comparing human to sea urchin aging suggests that the latter do not fit within the classic understanding of biological aging, as both long- and short-lived sea urchin species demonstrate negligible senescence. Sea urchins are highly regenerative organisms. Adults can regenerate external appendages and can maintain their regenerative abilities throughout life. They grow indeterminately and reproduce throughout their entire adult life. Both long- and short-lived species do not exhibit age-associated telomere shortening and display telomerase activity in somatic tissues regardless of age. Aging S. purpuratus urchins show changes in expression patterns of protein coding genes that are involved in several fundamental cellular functions such as the ubiquitin-proteasome system, signaling pathways, translational regulation, and electron transport chain. Sea urchin longevity and senescence research is a new and promising field that holds promise for the understanding of aging in vertebrates and can increase our understanding of human longevity and of healthy aging.
Highlights
Echinoids, known as sea urchins, are a relatively small class of marine invertebrates with just over 1000 extant species [1]
Sea urchins do not fit within the classic understanding of biological aging
Members of this class are among the oldest animals on earth and it is apparent that the hallmarks of aging [53] do not apply in their case
Summary
Known as sea urchins, are a relatively small class of marine invertebrates with just over 1000 extant species [1]. The genome of the sea urchin Strongylocentrotus purpuratus was sequenced. Sea urchins served as model organisms in developmental biology [7,8,9]. Later on, their properties were expanded to studying the innate immune system [10,11]. Sea urchins are organisms of great lifespan diversity; some of which show extreme longevity. The lifespan diversity between different sea urchin species and the extreme longevity that some species achieve raises questions about their aging process. We aimed to compare age-associated processes between sea urchins and humans to shed light on those differences Do sea urchins age? Are there any indications of aging? In this communication, we aimed to compare age-associated processes between sea urchins and humans to shed light on those differences
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