Newswise — Researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have added to evidence that a protein called CaMKII improves strength, endurance, muscle health and fitness in young animals. Their experiments working with mice and fruit flies, however, found that the gene for CaMKII also contributes to an evolutionary tradeoff: increased susceptibility to age-associated diseases, frailty and mortality.
The research, published May 26 in Nature Communications, indicates that future therapies targeting CaMKII could stave off diseases of old age, the investigators say.
According to the study leaders, the evolutionary conservation of genes that enable the young to run faster and respond robustly to “fight or flight” responses makes sense: It helps them to catch prey or evade predators, thereby ensuring their…
