Landmark papers of the past year
Published 28 Oct 2025 to 28 Oct 2026, ranked by impact: citations (OpenAlex), journal, and coverage by science news and press offices. Altmetric scores were not available. How these were chosen.
1Evidence for improved DNA repair in the long-lived bowhead whaleOpen access
A 200-year-old mammal seems to stay healthy by repairing DNA breaks more accurately, not by killing damaged cells.
Effects of daily multivitamin-multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trialOpen access
In a two-year randomized trial, a daily multivitamin slightly slowed two DNA-methylation aging clocks; cocoa extract did not.
Epigenetic and 3D genome reprogramming during the aging of the human hippocampusOpen access
Mapping the aging human hippocampus cell by cell shows the genome's 3D folding eroding and the brain's immune cells being replaced in midlife.
Insights into DNA repeat expansions among 900,000 biobank participantsOpen access
Sequencing 900,000 people shows that repeated DNA stretches lengthen in blood as we age, and inherited genes set the pace.
An unbiased comparison of 14 epigenetic clocks in relation to 174 incident disease outcomesOpen access
A head-to-head test of 14 epigenetic clocks in 18,859 people shows the newer clocks are far better at predicting disease.
DNA-protein cross-links promote cGAS-STING-driven premature aging and embryonic lethalityOpen access
Unrepaired DNA-protein tangles leak DNA into the cell, set off an immune alarm, and cause premature aging in mice; blocking the alarm helps.
Longitudinal changes in epigenetic clocks predict survival in the InCHIANTI cohortOpen access
Following people for up to 24 years shows that how fast your epigenetic clock speeds up predicts death, beyond where it started.
Clonal Hematopoiesis and Incident Heart FailureOpen access
In 417,616 adults, blood-stem-cell clones carrying acquired mutations were linked to a higher risk of heart failure.
Aging drives a program of DNA methylation decay in plant organsOpen access
Aging plants lose DNA methylation in a programmed way, but stopping that loss did not stop physical aging, so the marks may track rather than cause aging.
Inherited resilience to clonal hematopoiesis by modifying stem cell RNA regulationOpen access
A common inherited DNA variant slows the growth of mutated blood-stem-cell clones and protects against blood cancers, via the protein MSI2.
Loss of Y Chromosome and Major Cardiovascular Events in a Prospective Study of Older MenOpen access
Healthy older men whose blood cells have lost the Y chromosome had a higher risk of heart attack, but not of stroke.
cGAS-deficient mice display premature aging associated with derepression of LINE1 elements and inflammationOpen access
Removing the DNA sensor cGAS, expected to reduce age-related inflammation, instead made mice age faster by loosening control of 'jumping genes'.
Mechanism of age-related accumulation of mtDNA mutations in human bloodOpen access
Mitochondrial DNA mutations that rise with age in blood come mostly from copying errors made visible by expanding blood-cell clones, not from oxidative damage.
Somatic mutations reveal the ontogeny of microglia in human ageingPaywalled
Using somatic mutations as natural barcodes, researchers found bone-marrow-derived cells joining the brain's microglia in every older person they studied.
Caloric restriction modulates genome-wide somatic mutation in miceOpen access
Eating less slowed the build-up of DNA mutations across several tissues in mice, making genome integrity a modifiable part of aging.
Epigenetic aging and transposon dysregulation reflect size-related lifespan compression in dogsPaywalled
Big dogs and male dogs age faster at the DNA-methylation level, and in big dogs the change centres on 'jumping genes'.
Insights into longevity and virus-driven adaptation from Myotis bat genomesOpen access
Near-complete genomes of eight bat species link their long lives to adaptations in cancer pathways and an unusual response to DNA damage.
Latest
New papers found by the daily literature sweep, newest first.
·NAD+ replenishment reduces cardiomyocyte senescence and improves diastolic function in the aged male heartPaywalled
In old male mice, topping up NAD+ cleared heart-cell senescence partly by boosting the DNA-repair protein SIRT6.
A stress-adapted fiber state promotes clonal expansion of deleted mitochondrial DNAOpen access
It suggests why chunks of deleted mitochondrial DNA take over some muscle fibers, a pattern also seen in aging muscle.
Tubulin acetylation regulates nuclear shape fluctuations and DNA repairOpen access
Cells seem to fix broken DNA better by letting the nucleus wobble, and blocking that wobble pushes them into senescence.
Choline Kinase Alpha Inhibition is a Mutation Agnostic Therapeutic Vulnerability in Clonal HematopoiesisPreprint
Blood stem cells carrying age-acquired mutations may share one metabolic weak spot that a drug could target, whatever the mutation.
Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential and Bone Mineral Density in Cohorts from Trans-Omics for Precision MedicinePaywalled
Age-acquired blood mutations are tied to heart and kidney disease, but in this large study they were not tied to weaker bones overall.
A high-throughput nanoscale imaging platform for direct visualization and rapid measurement of telomeres at single-molecule resolutionPreprint
A simpler way to see every telomere's length one molecule at a time could catch the critically short ones that drive senescence.
DNA damage at Lamina-Associated Domains triggers nuclear envelope reorganization and chromatin detachment to prevent nuclear envelope blebbing and genome instabilityPreprint
Broken DNA stuck at the edge of the nucleus has to be pulled loose to be repaired, and failure leads to genome instability and leaking nuclei.
Epigenetic clocks and nonlinear aging in Odocoileus deerPreprint
A new DNA-methylation clock for wild deer shows methylation changes with age are not a straight line, and short-term changes are hard to read.
Investigating the efficacy and toxicity of partial in vivo reprogramming as a rejuvenation interventionOpen access
A re-analysis finds that partial reprogramming looked rejuvenating in liver and kidney but flagged possible genomic and proliferative stress in the spleen.
Life's Simple 7 score and epigenetic age acceleration: associations and effect modification by race and ethnicityOpen access
Better heart-health habits tracked with a slower epigenetic clock across US racial and ethnic groups, most clearly on clocks built from physiology.
How these were chosen
Searches of OpenAlex for papers about aging together with DNA damage, DNA repair, somatic mutation, epigenetic clocks, telomeres, genome instability, clonal hematopoiesis or mitochondrial DNA; each candidate was screened by hand for being about DNA or genome mechanisms of aging. Impact score = 2 × log2(1 + citations) + journal tier + news/press mentions (up to 3). Citation counts are as of 28 Oct 2026 and grow fast for recent papers, so the ranking favours older papers. Synopses are written from each paper's published abstract; they never add findings that are not in the source.