A desert mouse holds a clue to living past 100

A protein tied to longevity in humans has turned up in unusually high concentrations in a desert rodent, according to researchers at Yale School of Medicine. The animal is the golden spiny mouse, a resident of Middle-Eastern deserts that stays awake during the day and lives far longer than its relatives. "Mice in the wild typically live around 9 months," says senior author Vishwa Deep Dixit, a professor of pathology. "But some of these golden spiny mice are living out in the desert for up to five years." And they do it while dodging predators and foraging, so these are not frail elders. They stay sharp. The team traced the effect partly to a gene that produces clusterin, a protein often found in people over 100. It clears misfolded proteins and lowers inflammation. The mouse also keeps its thymus gland working into old age, a small organ that gives up on most mammals shortly after adulthood.