The Greenland shark is ugly. His skin is like sandpaper. His fins, stubby, sit awkwardly along his sides. And its eyes are constantly cloudy, because they harbor parasites that hang out as the shark slowly roams the depths of the North Atlantic and Arctic oceans.
But this species has an amazing ability: it can live up to 400 years. An international team of scientists from Europe and the United States has mapped the genome of the Greenland shark, offering scientists the chance to discover the secret of the species' longevity.
"Any research into the mechanisms of how this animal can live for so long will at some point need the genome sequenced," said Steve Hoffmann, a biologist at the Leibniz Institute for Aging and Friedrich Schiller University Jena in Germany, who led of research.
The findings, published as a draft on bioRxiv, provide a comprehensive synthesis of the genetic makeup of the shark. They also provide initial insights into the specific genes and biological mechanisms, such as a network of duplicated genes involved in DNA, that may be responsible for the shark's long lifespan.
Scientists discovered that Greenland sharks had very large genomes: about 6,5 billion DNA "base pairs" or building blocks - about twice as many as humans and the largest genome of any shark analyzed to date.
The study of sharks may help scientists one day "develop cancer treatments or prevention measures or a greater fundamental understanding of cancer that will lead to clinical benefits" in humans.
