Scientists have succeeded in greatly extending the lifespan of a simple worm through “genetic trickery” and hope to begin similar experiments on mammals, they say.
In a paper published in the journal Cell Reports, researchers at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in Novato, Calif., said they had extended the lifespan of tiny Caenorhabditis elegans to the human equivalent of 400 or 500 years.
Normally, the 1-millimeter-long, translucent nematode lives just several weeks. However, by combining two genetic mutations that inhibit key molecules involved in insulin signaling, or IIS, and the nutrient signaling pathway know as Target of Rapamycin, or TOR, scientists saw a five-fold extension of longevity, wrote senior author and biologist Pankaj Kapahi.
Read the full, original story: Want to live to be 500 years old? Worms show the way
