Molecular genetics of life span in C. elegans: how much does it teach us?
Several loci have been identified in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans that, when mutated, can increase life span. Three of these genes, age-1, daf-2 and clk-1, have now been cloned. Mutations in these three genes are highly pleiotropic and affect many aspects of worm development and behaviour, age-1 and daf-2 act in the same genetic pathway and have similar effects on the worm, age-1 encodes a homologue of the p110 subunit of phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase and daf-2 encodes an insulin receptor family member, clk-1 encodes a protein of unknown biochemical function similar to the yeast metabolic regulator Cat5p/Coq7p. The implications of these findings for our understanding of organismal ageing are discussed.
Hekimi
S
S
Department of Biology, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada. hekimi@notung.biol.mcgill.ca
Lakowski
B
B
Barnes
T M
TM
Ewbank
J J
JJ
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008136:Longevity / Q000235:genetics*; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008967:Molecular Biology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D051381:Rats; D011972:Receptor, Insulin / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid
C104339:CLK-1 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; C100662:AGE-1 protein, C elegans; C107483:DAF-2 protein, C elegans; D011972:Receptor, Insulin