Klotho gene, aging and DNA methylation

Aging is a natural process, which shows itself as anatomical and physiological changes in living organisms in the course of time. There are both environmental and genetic factors affecting the aging process. Within the genetic factors, several genes controlling different metabolic pathways involve in the aging process. Klotho (kl) gene, that is the subject of this review, is just one of genetic factors. Kl gene was first identified in mice and it was shown that dysfunction of this gene causes premature aging symptoms and short-lived of the mice. Recently, it was reported that kl gene could be epigenetically controlled by DNA methylation. In our unpublished study, we showed that DNMT enzymes have down-regulatory effects on human kl gene expression. We believe that elucidating the regulation mechanism of the human kl gene allows us more reliable methods to be followed for eliminating health problems that may arise due to low expression of Kl protein.