Scientists identify new longevity genes

March 13, 2008 | Source: PhysOrg.com

University of Washington scientists have found 25 genes regulating lifespan in two organisms separated by 1.5 billion years of evolutionary change; at least 15 of those genes have similar versions in humans.

Finding genes that are conserved between the two organisms is significant, the researchers say, because the two species–single-celled budding yeast and the roundworm C. elegans–are far apart on the evolutionary scale. That, combined with the presence of similar human genes, is an indication that these genes could also regulate human longevity.

Several of these genes are also connected to a key nutrient response pathway, the Target of Rapamycin, or TOR. That finding gives more evidence for the theory that calorie intake and nutrient response affect lifespan by altering TOR activity.

These findings also provide new insight into the genetic basis of aging, the scientists said, based on some of the first quantitative evidence that genes regulating aging have been conserved during the process of evolution. Earlier evolutionary theories suggested that aging was not genetically controlled.