Today, researchers are searching not for a fountain of youth but rather for the genes of youth. And a number of the genes governing key aging processes have so far been uncovered--at least in fruit flies, yeast, and roundworms. Moreover, scientists say these genes are just the beginning and herald a golden era of research in a field that should yield solid information on the biochemical mechanisms that govern aging and, with that, the possibility of extending the average human life span to 120 years.
Michal Jazwinski, a molecular geneticist at Louisiana State University in New Orleans, is using brewer's yeast as his model for studying aging. While this single-celled organism clearly is not as complex as a mammal, its very simplicity has its virtues. "It's a stripped-down version of aging," he says.
Since yeast organisms don't have livers, kidneys, and nervous systems, and have about one-third fewer genes than ...
