Dr. Shawn Ahmed (Professor, Genetics and Biology) has been awarded a new R01 grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) for his proposal titled “Telomere uncapping epigenetically reprograms a stress response and longevity pathway”.
This project proposes to reveal telomere capping as a malleable epigenetic trait that is coupled to regulation of genes with Interstitial Telomere Sequence tracts in their introns, in a manner that modulates resistance to environmental stress in future generations. There is precedent in humans for environmental stress interacting with telomeres in a manner that is heritable. Telomeres of humans subjected to psychosocial stress shorten and they transmit shortened telomeres to their children. It is not understood how an environmental factor like psychosocial stress epigenetically alters telomere length. The project will study the interplay between inherited defects in telomere capping and regulation of telomere length in the absence of telomerase, in a manner that may provide a valuable model for how the environment might modify telomere length in humans.