15.11.2007
A 400-year-old clam, believed to be the longest-lived animal discovered to date, is set to yield valuable information about the process and problems of ageing.
Gerontologist Dr Richard Faragher, from the School of Pharmacy and Biomolecular Sciences, has teamed up with a group of scientists from Bangor University's School of Ocean Sciences, who discovered the quahog clam off the coast of Iceland.
Dr Faragher leads a network of the best and brightest new researchers across the UK who are dedicated to improving the lives of older people. It is hoped that by drawing on his expertise in the biology of human ageing, the Bangor scientists can begin to understand how and why this animal lives so much longer than we do.
Dr Faragher said: "The quahog (pictured right) has served humanity as a source of food from the stone age until the present day, but it is so much more than that. This marvellous creature remains cancer-free and keeps its nervous system and muscles intact for centuries. Clams with lifetimes well in excess of 200 years are routinely found around our coast and it is a certainty that far out in the North sea specimens even older than this one await discovery."
"The purpose of gerontology is to understand ageing at the level of our cells and tissues so that we can use that knowledge to keep older people from lives of loneliness, pain and dependency. We gain most of our knowledge about ageing from human cells and from simple short-lived animals like flies and worms."
"Looking at the physiology of a species that already ages far better than we do will greatly aid our understanding of why our own bodies fail. Of the few ultra-long lived animals on this planet only the quahog is small and simple enough to be studied in an informative and humane way."
The oldest quahog previously known was a 374-year-old specimen, now in a German museum, which also came from Icelandic waters. The new specimen is estimated to be at least 30 years older based on the number of annual growth lines in its shell. Environmental conditions such as water temperature and food availability alter these rings in a way similar to the growth rings of a tree trunk.
Since 2006 the Bangor scientists have been analysing the chemical composition of quahog shells dating back centuries in order to obtain accurate estimate of past ocean temperatures. This research complements studies on tree rings, corals and ice cores and plays a vital role in understanding long term climate change.
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