Anyone who has ever owned a pet is likely familiar with the concept of “ wiener year , ” which advise that one twelvemonth for a andiron is like seven years for a human . Using this conversion metric , a 2 - year - honest-to-god dog is akin to a mellow schooling freshman , while a 10 - year - one-time frump is ready for an aided keep facility .
If that seems rather arbitrary , that ’s because it is . But now , investigator at the University of California , San Diego have come to a more data point - basedmeasurementon frankfurter aging through DNA .
Thepaper , published on the preprint server bioRxiv , based the finding on DNA methylation , a process in which speck call in methyl group mathematical group attach themselves to deoxyribonucleic acid and serve as an indicant of ageing . Generally speaking , the older know beings get , the faster the charge per unit of methylation . In the work , 104 Labrador retriever were examine , with subject ranging from 1 month to 16 old age older . The outcome of their DNA methylation were compared to human profiles . While the pace of methylation give chase closely between the two — unseasoned and old weenie had similar rates to young and old people — adolescent and mature dogs experienced more accelerated aging .
Their recommend formula for compare dog and human ageing ? reproduce the natural log of a dog ’s age by 16 , then add 31 . Or , just use thiscalculator . Users will see that a 2 - year - previous dog , for example , would n’t be the canine equivalent of a 14 - class - old . It would be tantamount to 42 human long time older and should in all likelihood start putting money into a 401(k ) . But because methylation slows considerably in mid - spirit , a 5 - yr - old hound is approximately a 57 - class - old human , while a 6 - yr - old hound is nearing 60 in human age — a small difference . Things level out as the dog fix much old , with a 10 - yr - former hotdog nearing a 70 - yr - old human .
Different stock age at different rates , so the formula might not necessarily give to other dog breeds — only Labs were contemplate . The work is wait equal followup , but it does offer a bright glimpse into how our furry fellow grow older .
[ h / tLive Science ]
