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Environmental stresses and cell damage play a role in the longevity of humans and simple soil-dwelling nematodes. But new research from Stanford University shows that in the short-lived worm Caenorhabditis elegans, such stresses have no effect on the changes in gene expression that accompany worm aging, hinting that another process is at work.

 

The study suggests that in the worms, the transition to old age is perhaps triggered by a regulatory system gone awry, says Stuart Kim, a Stanford biologist who led the research. It's not yet clear if the same processes are at work in humans (or mammals in general). But if they are, the relevant gene circuits could provide an easy target for drugs to boost longevity.