Stem Cell Study Finds Mutational Load Impacts on Muscle Function in Old Age

Studies by researchers in Sweden suggest that one of the reasons our muscles lose strength and function as we age may be because the stem cells that build and regenerate muscle tissue accumulate huge numbers of gene mutations. The Karolinska Institutet team, headed by Maria Eriksson, Ph.D., a professor in the department of biosciences and nutrition, used whole-genome sequencing to map gene mutations in clones of individual cultured human skeletal muscle (SkM) stem cells isolated from biopsies ta