Sagi and Kim used genome engineering to explore how lifespan could be enhanced in Caenorhabditis elegans. As expected, the individual overexpression of known C. elegans longevity-related genes increased lifespan. Importantly, this was also achieved by zebrafish transgenes that provide biochemical functions not found in C. elegans, such as an antibacterial lysozyme and a mitochondrial uncoupling protein. Combining up to four manipulations resulted in lifespan increases of up to 130%. The authors also characterized physiological features of long-lived strains, such as overexpression of superoxide dismutase 3 (SOD-3), as a possible rapid readout for longevity.
ORIGINAL RESEARCH PAPER
Sagi, D. & Kim, S. K. An engineering approach to extending lifespan in C. elegans. PLoS Genet. 8, e1002780 (2012)
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Burgess, D. Longevity by design. Nat Rev Genet 13, 519 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3301
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg3301