| RESEARCH |
Worms' life span doubled Worms live more than twice their normal life span when they are deprived of an enzyme known as the "target of rapamycin" (TOR) kinase, according to biology professor Fritz Müller of the University of Fribourg, in Switzerland, and colleagues [Nature, 426, 620 (2003)]. The researchers note that the enzyme "regulates cell growth and proliferation in response to nutrients and hormone-dependent mitogenic signals," which are involved in cell division. Thus, they believe that this newly discovered "function for TOR (kinase) signaling in aging control may represent a link between nutrition, metabolism, and longevity." To conduct their studies, the team used RNA interference (RNAi) to block TOR kinase production in normal Caenorhabditis elegans specimens; they also bred C. elegans that lacked the gene to make the kinase. These two groups of worms lived two to two-and-a-half times as long as wild-type worms. The team achieved similar results whether the RNAi treatment was initiated upon hatching or in adulthood. Furthermore, previous analogous studies with a signaling pathway involving insulin and insulin-like growth factor (IGF) led the scientists to believe that the TOR kinase and IGF pathways may be related in controlling life span. |
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