Galapagos Tortoise Genome Has Extra Genes To Battle Cancer

Galapagos giant tortoises are some of the longest-living animals on Earth, but how do they pull off the feat? A new study has examined the genome of the species and found that they pack plenty of duplicate genes, which may protect them from aging-related diseases like cancer, Michael Irving reported for New Atlas.

Photo Insert: A Galapagos tortoise

Galapagos tortoises have a long association with biological science, ever since Charles Darwin noticed that tortoises on different islands had different physical characteristics, which influenced his theory of evolution.

They routinely live for over a century, with some specimens thought to live up to around 175 years. The research was published in the journal Genome Biology and Evolution.

But exactly how they manage this is unclear. In most animals, cancer is the price to pay for a long lifespan, and larger animals should have the highest cancer rates, for the very simple reason that they have more cells that could potentially go rogue.

To investigate the tortoises’ secret, the researchers on the new study examined its genome. The team found that compared to other tortoise and turtle species, the Galapagos giant tortoise had extra copies of several genes, specifically those linked to longevity and tumor suppression.

The latter works by having damaged cells destroy themselves before they become cancerous – a process that slows down as organisms age. Or at least, it slows down in organisms other than Galapagos tortoises.

“In the lab, we can stress the cells out in ways that are associated with aging and see how well they resist that distress,” says Vincent Lynch, lead author of the study. “And it turns out that the Galápagos tortoise cells are really, really good at killing themselves before that stress has a chance to cause diseases like cancer.”

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