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Date: | Fri, 22 Dec 2000 18:37:40 -0500 |
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How much we can extrapolate from our understanding of fruit flies?
Extended Life-Span Conferred by Cotransporter Gene Mutations in Drosophila
Blanka Rogina, Robert A. Reenan, Steven P. Nilsen, Stephen L. Helfand*
Aging is genetically determined and environmentally modulated. In a study of
longevity in the adult fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, we found that
five independent P-element insertional mutations in a single gene resulted
in a near doubling of the average adult life-span without a decline in
fertility or physical activity. Sequence analysis revealed that the product
of this gene, named Indy (for I'm not dead yet), is most closely related to
a mammalian sodium dicarboxylate cotransporter--a membrane protein that
transports Krebs cycle intermediates. Indy was most abundantly expressed in
the fat body, midgut, and oenocytes: the principal sites of intermediary
metabolism in the fly. Excision of the P element resulted in a reversion to
normal life-span. These mutations may create a metabolic state that mimics
caloric restriction, which has been shown to extend life-span.
Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology, School of Medicine,
University of Connecticut Health Center, 263 Farmington Avenue, Farmington
CT 06030, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
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The entire paper can be found here:
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/short/290/5499/2137
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