X-Message-Number: 2480
From: whscad1!kqb (Kevin Q Brown +1 201 386 7344)
Subject: CRYONICS Nematode Lifespan and Death Genes

Message #2469 ("Anti-Aging Gene") reported some intriguing recent
progress toward identifying the genetics of some aging mechanisms.
Here are some more glimpses of progress, which I snipped from
the sci.life-extension news group.
                              Kevin Q. Brown
                              INTERNET    
                                 or       
PS: Can anyone on this list provide more references to the "Mortality I"
    and "Mortality II" genes mentioned below?  (Is this related to the
    work of Dr. Michael West?  Message #221 from Sept. 1990 briefly
    mentioned him and I know he has made further progress since then
    but I lost the pointers to his more recent work.)
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> Newsgroups: sci.life-extension
> From:  (Brian Manning Delaney)
> Subject: Re: Nematode lifespan genetically doubled
> Date: Tue, 7 Dec 1993 17:55:05 GMT

In article <>
   (Joe Strout .. Miami University, Oxford OH)
  writes:
>From the Dec. 4 _Science News_, reporting on an article in the Dec. 2
>_Nature_:
>
>A mutation in a gene called daf-2 allows nematodes (C. elegans) to
>live more than twice as long, and they remain healthy and active as
>young nematodes until a few days before their death.  The gene daf-16
>is also needed for the daf-2 mutation to have effect, indicating that
>both genes play a role in aging.  It's suspected that daf-2 controlles
>many genes which affect longevity, but the research offers hope that
>the whole picture of aging in the nematode may soon be unravelled. 
>Since both genes are involved in weathering harsh environmental
>conditions, the scientists suspect that this effect may be related to
>the reduced-calorie effect.

Similar work has been going on w/human cells in vitro. In this
case, the genes are "death genes" (called Mortality I and Mortality
II). If both of these genes are shut off, the cells live forever. The
trick is doing this in vivo w/o causing cancer (that's a very big
trick).

Researchers have also found in human cells something that looks like a
longevity gene found recently in yeast, which, in yeast, at least,
greatly extends life span.

It's conceivable that some of this work will have practical
applications to humans in a few years, though most likely it's a
longer way off than that.
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