From: Robert J. Bradbury (bradbury@aeiveos.com)
Date: Sat Sep 21 2002 - 11:01:07 MDT
The Ellison Medical Foundation had its recent annual report on the
research it is funding. I attended. Here is a very brief summary.
> How to Investigate Exceptionally Successful Aging: An Example from the Birds
> Steven Austad, Ph.D., University of Idaho
Steve gave his usual great summary on why we should study
birds, in particular Budgerigars (parakeets) to determine
why they live so long. They are using Japanese quails as
a control (long lived vs. short lived). The Budgies show
significant resistance to oxidative stress while the quails
do not. However the resistance does not appear to be due
to any of the obvious antioxidant genes (similar to the
confusing state of affairs right now with transgenic mice
where mice overespressing various antioxidant genes do not
show extended lifespans). Gene expression studies using
Chicken microarrays suggest that the response of Budgies
and Quails to oxidative stress are different and seem
to involve a limited set of genes. Work is ongoing to
produce species specific arrays and arrays with greater
coverage of the genomes (current arrays only have ~10%
of the genes on them).
> Regulation of Aging by the SIR2 Gene
> Leonard Guarente, Ph.D., MIT
Leonard gave a very nice summary of the effects of the SIR2
type genes regulating gene expression. These genes are
histone deacetylase genes that function to turn off gene.
These genes are found most/all complex organisms and overexpression/
underexpression can lengthen/shorten lifespan of these organisms.
The method may very well be universal -- but precisely *what*
is being regulated may be very different in organisms
from yeast to C. elegans. So gene silencing may be
a very general mechanism in nature for controling longevity.
More: http://web.mit.edu/biology/guarente/worm/worms.html
> Genes from the Fountain of Youth
> Cynthia Kenyon, Ph.D., UCSF
Cynthia gave a very complex summary of the genes involved in
longevity in C. elegans. Her general conclusion was that there
are pathways from specific sensory neurons as well as reproductive
cells that regulate longevity. Her progress in combining various
various pathways involved has led to the generation of worms
that comfortably live *6 times* the normal lifespan.
More:
http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/jun2002_report_kenyon_01.html
http://www.ucsf.edu/neurosc/faculty/neuro_kenyon.html
http://www.ucsf.edu/pibs/faculty/kenyon.html
http://www.biotech.missouri.edu/Dauer-World/Aging/Agingmenu.html (somewhat dated)
See Also:
http://www.ellison-med-fn.org/
Robert
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