approximately 25% of the NMR genome was represented by transposon-derived repeats, which is lower than in other mammals (40% in human, 37% in mouse, and 35% in rat genomes)
However it’s just a 1⁄3 or so reduction compared to similar mammals, so on its own that doesn’t explain much. But it suggests a possible lead.
Most of “transposon-derived repeats” are essentially corpses of transposons that have mutations that make them nonfunctional. The thing that matters isn’t how much of the genome is due to transposon-derived repeats but how many active transposons there are.
Then for those transposons that are active it matters how easy they are to activate and whether there are mechanisms in somatic cells to silence them.
When it comes to the claim of immortal naked mole rats it’s worth keeping in mind that the oldest naked mole rat we know is 39 which is an age where even most humans don’t get cancer. It might be that naked mole rats do die at age 150 due to the few active transposons they have being able to cause problems by at age 150 we would still observe what we observe today about naked mole rats.
This seems relevant: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10533
However it’s just a 1⁄3 or so reduction compared to similar mammals, so on its own that doesn’t explain much. But it suggests a possible lead.
Most of “transposon-derived repeats” are essentially corpses of transposons that have mutations that make them nonfunctional. The thing that matters isn’t how much of the genome is due to transposon-derived repeats but how many active transposons there are.
Then for those transposons that are active it matters how easy they are to activate and whether there are mechanisms in somatic cells to silence them.
When it comes to the claim of immortal naked mole rats it’s worth keeping in mind that the oldest naked mole rat we know is 39 which is an age where even most humans don’t get cancer. It might be that naked mole rats do die at age 150 due to the few active transposons they have being able to cause problems by at age 150 we would still observe what we observe today about naked mole rats.