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Researchers in Gary Ruvkun’s lab found that genetic mutations in C. elegans could greatly increase the worm’s life span. Click "enlarge image" to see one of Ruvkun’s slides showing a worm carrying an insulin GFP fusion gene. National Human Genome Research Institute / Courtesy Gary Ruvkun |
Researchers learn how mutations extend life spanIn the sense that organisms existing today are connected through a chain of life – through their parents, grandparents, and other ancestors – almost a billion years back to the first animals of the pre-Cambrian era, an animal’s reproductive cells can be considered to be immortal. These germline cells generate their offspring’s somatic cells – other cells involved in all aspects of growth, metabolism, and behavior, which have a set life span – and new germline cells that continue on, generation after generation. |
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