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PERSPECTIVE article

Front. Cell Dev. Biol.
Sec. Evolutionary Developmental Biology
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fcell.2024.1480695
This article is part of the Research Topic Eco-evo-devo: an Emergent Integrative Discipline of Biology View all 4 articles

Linking DNA Damage and Senescence to Gestation Period and Lifespan in Placental Mammals

Provisionally accepted
Vijay P. Singh Vijay P. Singh *Pushpendra Singh Pushpendra Singh
  • National Institute for Research in Tribal Health (ICMR), Jabalpur, India

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The mechanism that synchronizes the timing of parturition remains a mystery. Each mammalian species has a specific duration of gestation, which is determined by integrated interactions among mother, placenta, and fetus. Senescence, primarily driven by DNA damage, is one of the critical factors influencing both parturition and lifespan. In this study, we investigated senescence as a physiological process during pregnancy and observed a gradual physiological increase in senescence in the mother’s decidua and placental cells with gestation. This increase in senescence was associated with gradual and physiological increase in DNA damage during gestation. An analysis of AnAge data, revealed a positive correlation between the gestation period and maximum lifespan across 740 mammalian species. This finding supports the hypothesis that rates of DNA damage and senescence may impact both gestation period and lifespan. We suggest that the relationship between gestation period and lifespan in mammals is mediated by species-specific rates of DNA damage and senescence, and their causal role should be explored further.

    Keywords: Placenta, Parturition, senescence, Lifespan, gestation, Genomic Instability

    Received: 14 Aug 2024; Accepted: 10 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Singh and Singh. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Vijay P. Singh, National Institute for Research in Tribal Health (ICMR), Jabalpur, India

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