Mortality rates in a genetically heterogeneous population of Caenorhabditis elegans.
Age-specific mortality rates in isogenic populations of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans increase exponentially throughout life. In genetically heterogeneous populations, age-specific mortality increases exponentially until about 17 days and then remains constant until the last death occurs at about 60 days. This period of constant age-specific mortality results from genetic heterogeneity. Subpopulations differ in mean life-span, but they all exhibit near exponential, albeit different, rates of increase in age-specific mortality. Thus, much of the observed heterogeneity in mortality rates later in life could result from genetic heterogeneity and not from an inherent effect of aging.
Brooks
A
A
Institute of Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309.
Lithgow
G J
GJ
Johnson
T E
TE
D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014644:Genetic Variation; D007700:Kinetics; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics; D009026:Mortality