An accelerated assay for the identification of lifespan-extending interventions in Drosophila melanogaster
Open accessAbstract
Recent advances in aging research have uncovered genes and genetic pathways that influence lifespan in such diverse organisms as yeast, nematodes, flies, and mice. The discovery of genes and drugs that affect lifespan has been delayed by the absence of a phenotype other than survivorship, which depends on the measurement of age at death of individuals in a population. The use of survivorship to identify genetic and pharmacological interventions that prolong life is time-consuming and requires a large number of homogeneous animals. Here, we report the development of an assay in Drosophila melanogaster using the expression of molecular biomarkers that accelerates the ability to evaluate potential lifespan-altering interventions. Coupling the expression of an age-dependent molecular biomarker to a lethal toxin reduces the time needed to perform lifespan studies by 80%. The assay recapitulates the effect of the three best known environmental life-span-extending interventions in the fly: ambient temperature, reproductive status, and calorie reduction. Single gene mutations known to extend lifespan in the fly such as Indy and rpd3 also extend lifespan in this assay. We used this assay as a screen to identify drugs that extend lifespan in flies. Lipoic acid and resveratrol were identified as being beneficial in our assay and shown to extend lifespan under normal laboratory conditions. We propose that this assay can be used to screen pharmacological as well as genetic interventions more rapidly for positive effects on lifespan.
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Resveratrol prolongs the life of flies, worms, and the replicative lifespan of yeast.
“Resveratrol prolongs the life of flies (Bauer et al., 2004), worms (Baur and Sinclair, 2006), and the replicative lifespan of yeast (Howitz et al., 2003), but not yeast’s chronological lifespan (our unpublished observations).”
From The Search for Antiaging Interventions: From Elixirs to Fasting Regimens (2014) · cites this paper as Bauer et al., 2004
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- Authors
- Bauer, J. H., Goupil, S., Garber, G. B., & Helfand, S. L.
- Affiliations
- UConn Health (US)
- Corresponding author
- Helfand, Stephen L.
- ORCID
- Bauer, Johannes H.
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2004-08-24
- Volume
- 101
- Issue
- 35
- Pages
- 12980-12985
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC516504
- OpenAlex
- W2162711901
- Cited by
- 234
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 17 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 13 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 14 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 12 · 2013: 14 · 2012: 15
- FWCI
- 3.11
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Ellison Medical Foundation
- Patrick and Catherine Weldon Donaghue Medical Research Foundation
- University of Connecticut
- Queen's University
- National Institute on Aging (RF1AG024353, AG16667, R01AG016667, R37AG016667)
- National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (T90DE021989)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Neurobiology and Insect Physiology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Geriatrics and Gerontology › Sirtuins and Resveratrol in Medicine
- Keywords
- lifespan extension, aging, Drosophila melanogaster, lethal toxin, caloric restriction, ambient temperature, reproductive status, Indies, Rpd3, alpha-lipoic acid, resveratrol, drug screening
- MeSH terms
- Age Factors, Aging, Animals, Drosophila melanogaster, Pharmaceutical Preparations, Female, Fertility, Longevity, Male, Temperature, Tetanus Toxin, Biomarkers, Caloric Restriction
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