CGC Bibliography Paper 3156

Genes that determine both thermotolerance and rate of aging in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Walker GA, Walker DW, Lithgow GJ

Medline:

98333235

Citation:

Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 851: 444-449

Type:

ARTICLE

Genes:

age-1 daf-2 spe-26

Abstract:

Caenorhabditis elegans is an excellent experimental system for the genetic dissection of complex processes such as development, cell death, and aging. This organism may now prove informative in the analysis of stress response. Single-gene mutations that confer increased tolerance to a range of acute extrinsic stresses and also increase lifespan in nonstress conditions have been identified. C. elegans is a free-living, self-fertilizing nematode that can be maintained in large, synchronous populations in the laboratory with ease on simple growth media. The hermaphroditic form will at low frequency give rise to males, which facilitates genetic crosses. An alternative larval form called the dauer ("enduring") larvae is formed from first-stage larvae (L1) during overcrowding or starvation. Some of the genes that control dauer formation during development also determine lifespan and stress tolerance in the adult.