Increased life-span of age-1 mutants in Caenorhabditis elegans and lower Gompertz rate of aging.
A mutation in the age-1 gene of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans has been shown to result in a 65 percent increase in mean life-span and a 110 percent increase in maximum life-span at 25 degrees. One of the hallmarks of organismic aging and senescent processes is an exponential acceleration of age-specific mortality rate with chronological age. This exponential acceleration is under genetic control: age-1 mutant hermaphrodites show a 50 percent slower rate of acceleration of mortality with chronological age than wild-type strains. Mutant males also show a lengthening of life and a slowing of the rate of acceleration of mortality, although age-1 mutant males still have significantly shorter life-spans than do hermaphrodites of the same genotype. The slower rates of acceleration of mortality are recessive characteristics of the age-1 mutant alleles examined.
Johnson
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Department of Psychology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309.
D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation