Dr. Jan Kammenga of the Laboratory of Nematology at Wageningen University has discovered genes that determine the lifespan of nematodes. The research results were published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. ‘Many genes in nematodes are the same as those in people, so the transposition from nematode to human will happen quickly.’
As the population ages, research into genes that play a role in aging also becomes more important. The nematode C. elegans, a tiny worm between 1 and 2 mm in length, plays an important role in this research. It is the favourite laboratory animal of many genetics researchers. ‘The genes of nematodes are comparable with the genes that are involved with diseases of aging in humans’, asserts Kammenga. ‘One big advantage of nematodes is that they have very short lifespans of only one to three weeks; as a result, you can quickly see how long animals with a specific genetic disposition can live.'
To find the genes that are involved in lifespan and aging, the researchers devised an ingenious experimental setup. They made crosses between long-life and short-life nematodes, where the long-life nematodes always had a different piece of genetic material from their short life counterparts. In total, the researchers required 90 long-life nematodes to contain all the entire genetic material (cut into fragments) of the short-life nematodes. ‘After that, all we had to do was to observe how long the new worms lived in order to determine which gene clusters are involved in lifespan and aging', explains Kammenga. As a result, the researchers were able to identify various candidate genes. ’With this information you can then focus on whether the same genes also play a role in human aging processes.' Because genes influence each other, and every individual has a unique set of genes, the aging genes that were discovered could play a role with some individuals as they grow older, but not with others.
In the future, Kammenga wants to examine aging processes and nematodes in greater detail. One problem that arises with this study is how to observe aging processes in these miniscule worms. ‘Old worms become more wrinkled, but that is all we know’, explains Kammenga. ‘We don't understand the physiological quality of life. To acquire a better grasp of this problem, in the future we want to look at changes in protein patterns – proteomics research.’ / Hans Wolkers
The above article was written by the editorial staff of Resource, the weekly newspaper for Wageningen University and Research Centre. For more information, contact the press and science information officer of Wageningen UR, e-mail: pers.communicatie@wur.nl or the editorial staff of Resource, e-mail: resource@wur.nl. See the archived articles at www.resource-online.nl