Worm Breeder's Gazette 5(1): 21b
These abstracts should not be cited in bibliographies. Material contained herein should be treated as personal communication and should be cited as such only with the consent of the author.
We are taking advantage of the short lifespans of N2 hermaphrodites to study the biology of senescence. We are currently pursuing several different approaches. 1) We are characterizing standard morphological mutants to identify those with normal lifespans, for possible future genetic analysis of mutants with altered lifespans. 2) We are also characterizing various temperature-sensitive developmental mutants as possible marker strains and as possible candidates for lengthened lifespan mutants. 3) We are examining the phenomenon of hormesis a lengthening of lifespan by sublethal doses of lethal drugs - in hopes of defining pathways of senescence. 4) N2 males have lifespans which are significantly shorter than those of hermaphrodites. We are using stocks carrying various sex- transforming genes (tra's isx-1 and her's) to try to understand something about the mechanisms that may be responsible for this difference. One typical experiment involves comparing the lifespan of her/herXX animal and a her/her XO. Such a comparison would enable us to ask if the difference in lifespan between the sexes is due to somatic mutations on the monosomic X chromosome of the XO hermaphrodites. 5) We are utilizing the campus CDC 6000 system for data storage and retrieval. We have developed inputting and retrieval software with the help of Mike Raines and we are currently developing data analysis programs including the use of the log-rank statistic in comparing the lifespans of different populations. This statistic assumes homogeneity in life-tables between (or among) the populations and then tests the validity of this assumption by generating a Chi-squared statistic. This software is written in Fortran and is available for use on request.