Zombie Cells and Cryptic Molecules: The Key to Aging?
"Zombie cells" that contribute to age-related diseases make small, strange molecules not seen in normal cells. These "cryptic" molecules remain a mystery, but scientists think they may know why zombies build them in the first place. Senescent cells undergo a process called "cryptic transcription," where cells erroneously use supershort snippets of DNA to build tiny molecules of RNA. The exact function of these cryptic RNAs remains unknown, but scientists suspect that the production of these small molecules may sap the cell's resources, causing it to grow less and less efficient with age. Furthermore, the cell may use the instructions within the RNA to build tiny proteins that somehow interfere with the cell's normal functions.