A little bit of context for you all: I'm currently going for my bachelors in biotechnology.
Sometimes, I think about how the heck Fae are immortal. And yes, yes, I know the answer is simply 'magic,' and 'Nova stop overthinking it - it's a fun fantasy world,' but hear me out.
Disclaimer: It's also been a while since I've reviewed my DNA stuffs, and I'm a little rusty on telomers and the like so fellow biologists please feel free to (nicely) correct me in the comments if I mess something up!! Aka please tell me what I did wrong but don't yell at me lol - I know I defo made at least one mistake, I just don't know what it is yet
DNA naturally degrades with cell growth. Basically, every time the cell divides, the DNA gets shorter and shorter. In order to avoid loss of functionality (we don't want to lose important DNA), these things call telomeres exist on the ends of DNA. They're essentially like little spacers, and longer telomers are given to cells with a longer lifespan. Your skin cells for example, don't have long telomers, while your nerves do. There are also telomerases, which repair telomers.
Now at this point your probably like 'stop with the biology' but just keep bearing with me, I promise this is going somewhere.
All living things have DNA, right? So let's just assume, just for a moment, that Fae also have DNA, and not some sort of weird magical DNA equivalent. Fae having DNA would mean two things:
They are related to every living thing, so presumably, humans and Fae share some sort of mortal or immortal common ancestor. This means that either humans were once immortal and we lost it, or Fae were once mortal but gained longevity.
Fae's DNA, by the nature of DNA, would also degrade.
But Nova, couldn't the Fae telomers just be better and longer than our cells, so that's how they stay alive while maintaining the integrity of their genetic material? Well, yes, sort of. The only issue with that is that usually, telomers being maintained for large amounts of time is usually equivalent to cancer.
So essentially, what I want to know, is how do Fae maintain DNA through generations, or even through their lifespans? Wouldn't their cells simply eventually stop being able to produce the necessary proteins?
Okay, I'm done now. Thank you for coming to my chaos. If you read this far, you now are obligated to like the post or leave a comment out of sheer frustration (I don't make the rules - wait I kind of just did nvm).
Bye!!
