Microbiologist Peter Noble: Genes remain on after animal death.

Does death mean the end of our existence? From Plato to the American rock band Blue yster Cult, great thinkers have explored this issue.
now a new study has found that life continues after death -- at least in terms of genes: genes remain on after animal death.
use of this posthumous activity, researchers can make the donor's organs more functional during the transplant process and provide a more accurate way to estimate the time of death of homicide victims.
Although scientists have previously observed the activity of small amounts of genes after death by analyzing blood and liver tissue in corpses, the study by Peter Noble, a microbiologist at the University of Washington at Seattle, and colleagues systematically evaluated more than 1,000 genes.
the genes they tested were derived from the tissues of recently dead mice and zebrafish, and genetic changes in the carcasses of the two species were tracked for two and four days, respectively.
, the researchers assumed that the genes would shut down shortly after the animal's death, as if they were car parts without gasoline.
they found that, on the contrary, many genes were running at full horsepower.
but most of these genes only increase activity 24 hours after the animal dies, and then gradually cease to move.
some genes in fish can remain active for up to 4 days after the fish dies.
many of these genes, which still work after an animal dies, are useful in emergency situations, such as those that cause inflammatory reactions, genes that activate the immune system, and genes that relieve external stress.
", but it's amazing that developmental genes are also turned on after death.
," Noble said.
these genes usually help shape embryos, but they are not needed after birth.
a possible explanation for the posthumous gene awakening is that the cellular environment of a newly dead corpse is similar to that of an embryo, the researchers said.
also found that some genes that promote the cancer process become more active after death.
noble said the results could explain why transplanting organs from recently passed-by has a higher risk of cancer.
, no matter which gene turns on after death, it doesn't benefit mice or zebrafish.
the patterns of genetic activity observed by the researchers may represent the state in which complex networks of gene interactions that maintain organ function stop working.
some genes, for example, may turn on (because the genes that normally silence them are turned off).
based on these changes, experimental studies may be able to learn more about these genetic networks, Noble said.
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