Caffeine extends yeast lifespan by targeting TORC1

kavin submitted, created time 4 months 1 week (www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)

Dietary nutrient limitation (dietary restriction) is known to increase lifespan in a variety of organisms. Although the molecular events that couple dietary restriction to increased lifespan are not clear, studies of the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae have implicated several nutrient-sensitive kinases, including the target of rapamycin complex 1 (TORC1), Sch9, protein kinase A (PKA) and Rim15. We have recently demonstrated that TORC1 activates Sch9 by direct phosphorylation. We now show that Sch9 inhibits Rim15 also by direct phosphorylation

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How a thriving social life can boost lifespan

sea-maid submitted, created time 5 months 3 weeks (www.newscientist.com)

This study shows that the lifespan of these flies is plastic and can be conditioned by social interactions, corroborating the notion that human patients of certain age-dependant neurological diseases may be benefited by an appropriate social environment.

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So You Want to Live Forever?

New Clue to Longevity

newsdigg submitted, created time 1 year 6 months (sciencenow.sciencemag.org)

Cutting calories does more than just shrink your waist size--it also increases the lifespan of organisms ranging from yeast to flies to mice. Although this phenomenon is common across many lineages, researchers have yet to unravel all of the genetic pathways behind it. Now, scientists have found a new gene that causes hungry roundworms to significantly outlive their chubbier peers.

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Vitellogenin, juvenile hormone, insulin signaling, and queen honey bee longevity

cappuccion submitted, created time 1 year 7 months (www.pnas.org)

In most animals, longevity is achieved at the expense of fertility, but queen honey bees do not show this tradeoff. Queens are both long-lived and fertile, whereas workers, derived from the same genome, are both relatively short-lived and normally sterile. It has been suggested, on the basis of results from workers, that vitellogenin (Vg), best known as a yolk protein synthesized in the abdominal fat body, acts as an antioxidant to promote longevity in queen bees. The experiment result support the hypothesis that caste-specific differences in Vg expression are involved in queen longevity

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Flies live longer if they can't smell their food

nomad submitted, created time 1 year 9 months (www.nature.com)

Eating less can lengthen an animal's life. But now it seems that — for flies at least — they don't have to actually cut down on the calories to benefit. Fruitflies can boost their lifespan just by not smelling their food.

The result suggests that flies might use their sense of smell — as well as the actual consumption of food — to help determine how rich their environment is, and how they should go about distributing their energy resources.

From flies and worms to rats and mice, animals fed on restricted diets generally live longer than those given abundant food

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