Uncoupling of longevity and telomere length in C. elegans

The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, after completing its developmental stages and a brief reproductive period, spends the remainder of its adult life as an organism consisting exclusively of post-mitotic cells. Here we show that telomere length varies considerably in clonal populations of wild-type...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PLoS genetics 2005-09, Vol.1 (3), p.e30-e30
Main Authors: Raices, Marcela, Maruyama, Hugo, Dillin, Andrew, Karlseder, Jan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aging
Aging - physiology
Animals
Caenorhabditis
Caenorhabditis elegans
Caenorhabditis elegans - cytology
Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics
Caenorhabditis elegans - growth & development
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - genetics
Cell Biology
Chromosomes
DNA - genetics
Forkhead Transcription Factors
Genetics
Genetics/Gene Expression
Longevity
Mitosis
Mutation
Nematodes
Receptor, Insulin - genetics
Telomere - genetics
Telomere - ultrastructure
Transcription Factors - genetics
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Summary:The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, after completing its developmental stages and a brief reproductive period, spends the remainder of its adult life as an organism consisting exclusively of post-mitotic cells. Here we show that telomere length varies considerably in clonal populations of wild-type worms, and that these length differences are conserved over at least ten generations, suggesting a length regulation mechanism in cis. This observation is strengthened by the finding that the bulk telomere length in different worm strains varies considerably. Despite the close correlation of telomere length and clonal cellular senescence in mammalian cells, nematodes with long telomeres were neither long lived, nor did worm populations with comparably short telomeres exhibit a shorter life span. Conversely, long-lived daf-2 and short-lived daf-16 mutant animals can have either long or short telomeres. Telomere length of post-mitotic cells did not change during the aging process, and the response of animals to stress was found independent of telomere length. Collectively, our data indicate that telomere length and life span can be uncoupled in a post-mitotic setting, suggesting separate pathways for replication-dependent and -independent aging.
ISSN:1553-7404
1553-7390
1553-7404
DOI:10.1371/journal.pgen.0010030