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Not dogs but mice. Mice are members of the supraprimate superoder (the euarchonta). Dog are more distantly related to humans than are mice and they live much longer and they cannot be genetically engineered as easily. We have already established causality for aging in mice using classical genetic methods—down to the level of large chromosomal stretch that usually contain 10 to 200 candidate genes. But we do not yet know the causal single gene variants that modulate lifespan in mice but we are systematically getting closer.

Will these putative genes also modulate healthspan in humans? That is a reasonable presumption that will need to be tested, with the recognition that gene-by-environment interactions will be most important.




Mice are weird in ways that disqualify them for aging research, IMO. For example, they and rats have two insulins (no other species does). We already know the insulin/igf-1 axis is important for aging.


we could check those findings by replicating them in other related animals




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