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Age-1
The ''age-1'' gene is located on chromosome 2 in '' C.elegans''. It gained attention in 1983 for its ability to induce long-lived ''C. elegans'' mutants. The ''age-1'' mutant, first identified by Michael Klass, was reported to extend mean lifespan by over 50% at 25 °C when compared to the wild type worm (N2) in 1987 by Johnson ''et al''. Development, metabolism, lifespan, among other processes have been associated with ''age-1'' expression. The ''age-1'' gene is known to share a genetic pathway with ''daf-2'' gene that regulates lifespan in worms. Additionally, both ''age-1'' and ''daf-2'' mutants are dependent on ''daf-16'' and ''daf-18'' genes to promote lifespan extension. Long-lived ''age-1'' mutants are resistant to oxidative stress and UV light.Hyun M, Lee J, Lee K, May A, Bohr VA, Ahn B. Longevity and resistance to stress correlate with DNA repair capacity in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res. 2008 Mar;36(4):1380-9. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkm1161. Epub 2008 Jan 18. P ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Longevity
The word " longevity" is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. However, the term ''longevity'' is sometimes meant to refer only to especially long-lived members of a population, whereas ''life expectancy'' is always defined statistically as the average number of years remaining at a given age. For example, a population's life expectancy at birth is the same as the average age at death for all people born in the same year (in the case of cohorts). Longevity is best thought of as a term for general audiences meaning 'typical length of life' and specific statistical definitions should be clarified when necessary. Reflections on longevity have usually gone beyond acknowledging the brevity of human life and have included thinking about methods to extend life. Longevity has been a topic not only for the scientific community but also for writers of travel, science fiction, and utopia A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daf-2
The DAF-2 gene encodes for the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) receptor in the worm ''Caenorhabditis elegans''. DAF-2 is part of the first metabolic pathway discovered to regulate the rate of aging. DAF-2 is also known to regulate reproductive development, resistance to oxidative stress, thermotolerance, resistance to hypoxia, and resistance to bacterial pathogens. Mutations in DAF-2 have been shown by Cynthia Kenyon to double the lifespan of the worms. In a 2007 episode of WNYC’s Radiolab, Kenyon called DAF-2 "the grim reaper gene.” Long-lived mutants Long-lived ''DAF-2'' ''C. elegans'' mutants are resistant to the oxidizing agent paraquat and to UV light. ''DAF-2'' mutants also have a higher DNA repair capability than wild-type ''C. elegans''. Knockdown of the nucleotide excision repair gene ''Xpa-1'' increases sensitivity to UV and reduces the life span of the long-lived mutants. These findings support the hypothesis that DNA damage has a significant role in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cynthia Kenyon
Cynthia Jane Kenyon (born February 21, 1954) is an American molecular biologist and biogerontologist known for her genetic dissection of aging in a widely used model organism, the roundworm ''Caenorhabditis elegans''. She is the vice president of aging research at Calico Research Labs, and emeritus professor of biochemistry and biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Career Cynthia Kenyon graduated valedictorian in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Georgia in 1976. She received her Ph.D. in 1981 from MIT where, in Graham Walker's laboratory, she looked for genes on the basis of their activity profiles, discovering that DNA-damaging agents activate a battery of DNA repair genes in E. coli. She then did postdoctoral studies with Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England, studying the development of ''C. elegans.'' Since 1986 she has been at the UCSF, where she was the Herbert Boyer Dis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate
Phosphatidylinositol (3,4,5)-trisphosphate (PtdIns(3,4,5)''P''3), abbreviated PIP3, is the product of the class I phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI 3-kinases) phosphorylation of phosphatidylinositol (4,5)-bisphosphate (PIP2). It is a phospholipid that resides on the plasma membrane. Discovery In 1988, Lewis C. Cantley published a paper describing the discovery of a novel type of phosphoinositide kinase with the unprecedented ability to phosphorylate the 3' position of the inositol ring resulting in the formation of phosphatidylinositol-3-phosphate (PI3P). Working independently, Alexis Traynor-Kaplan and coworkers published a paper demonstrating that a novel lipid, phosphatidylinositol 3,4,5 trisphosphate (PIP3) occurs naturally in human neutrophils with levels that increased rapidly following physiologic stimulation with chemotactic peptide. Subsequent studies demonstrated that ''in vivo'' the enzyme originally identified by Cantley's group prefers PtdIns(4,5)P2 as a substrate, pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phosphoinositide 3-kinase
Phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks), also called phosphatidylinositol 3-kinases, are a family of enzymes involved in cellular functions such as cell growth, proliferation, differentiation, motility, survival and intracellular trafficking, which in turn are involved in cancer. PI3Ks are a family of related intracellular signal transducer enzymes capable of phosphorylating the 3 position hydroxyl group of the inositol ring of phosphatidylinositol (PtdIns). The pathway, with oncogene PIK3CA and tumor suppressor gene PTEN, is implicated in the sensitivity of cancer tumors to insulin and IGF1, and in calorie restriction. Discovery The discovery of PI3Ks by Lewis Cantley and colleagues began with their identification of a previously unknown phosphoinositide kinase associated with the polyoma middle T protein. They observed unique substrate specificity and chromatographic properties of the products of the lipid kinase, leading to the discovery that this phosphoinositide kinase ha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daf-16
DAF-16 is the sole ortholog of the FOXO family of transcription factors in the nematode ''Caenorhabditis elegans''. It is responsible for activating genes involved in longevity, lipogenesis, heat shock survival and oxidative stress responses. It also protects ''C.elegans'' during food deprivation, causing it to transform into a hibernation - like state, known as a Dauer. DAF-16 is notable for being the primary transcription factor required for the profound lifespan extension observed upon mutation of the insulin-like receptor ''DAF-2''. The gene has played a large role in research into longevity and the insulin signalling pathway as it is located in ''C. elegans'', a successful ageing model organism. Genetics DAF-16 is a gene conserved across species, with homologs being found in ''C. elegans'', humans, mice, and ''Drosophila'' (fruit flies). In ''C. elegans'', DAF-16 is located on Chromosome 1, at position 175-268. It is made up of 15 exons. DAF-16 is also located downstre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
SGK1
Serine/threonine-protein kinase Sgk1 also known as serum and glucocorticoid-regulated kinase 1 is an enzyme that in humans is encoded by the SGK1 gene. SGK1 belongs to a subfamily of serine/threonine kinases that is under acute transcriptional control by several stimuli, including serum and glucocorticoids. The kinase is activated by insulin and growth factors via phosphatidylinositide-3-kinase, phosphoinositide-dependent kinase PDK1 and mammalian target of rapamycin mTORC2. It has been shown to "regulate several enzymes and transcription factors; SGK1 contributes to the regulation of transport, hormone release, neuroexcitability, inflammation, cell proliferation and apoptosis". SGK1 increases the protein abundance and/or activity of a variety of ion channel, carriers, and the Na+/K+-ATPase. Over the past few years, there has been increasing evidence that SGK1 expression is regulated during both discrete developmental stages and pathological conditions such as hypertension, d ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
PTEN (gene)
Phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) is a phosphatase in humans and is encoded by the ''PTEN'' gene. Mutations of this gene are a step in the development of many cancers, specifically glioblastoma, lung cancer, breast cancer, and prostate cancer. Genes corresponding to PTEN (orthologs) have been identified in most mammals for which complete genome data are available. ''PTEN'' acts as a tumor suppressor gene through the action of its phosphatase protein product. This phosphatase is involved in the regulation of the cell cycle, preventing cells from growing and dividing too rapidly. It is a target of many anticancer drugs. The protein encoded by this gene is a phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-trisphosphate 3-phosphatase. It contains a tensin-like domain as well as a catalytic domain similar to that of the dual specificity protein tyrosine phosphatases. Unlike most of the protein tyrosine phosphatases, this protein preferentially dephosphorylates phosphoinositide substrates. It nega ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
ISS Pathway
The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), and CSA (Canada). The ownership and use of the space station is established by intergovernmental treaties and agreements. The station serves as a microgravity and space environment research laboratory in which scientific research is conducted in astrobiology, astronomy, meteorology, physics, and other fields. The ISS is suited for testing the spacecraft systems and equipment required for possible future long-duration missions to the Moon and Mars. The ISS programme evolved from the Space Station ''Freedom'', a 1984 American proposal to construct a permanently crewed Earth-orbiting station, and the contemporaneous Soviet/Russian ''Mir-2'' proposal from 1976 with similar aims. The ISS is the ninth space station to be i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
