WIKIMEDIAIn the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans, aging is associated with dysregulation of RNA splicing, according to a paper published on Monday (December 5) in Nature. And restoring splicing homeostasis in these animals—via dietary restriction or over-expression of a key splicing factor—can extend the roundworms’ lives.
“The take-home message of the paper is that control of splicing is one of the key linchpins that actually may explain the association between dietary restriction and longevity,” said molecular geneticist Lorna Harries of the University of Exeter in the U.K., who was not involved in the research. “What’s been known previously is that [splicing] is associated with age and longevity . . . but this is the first report where we’ve been able to actually infer any sort of causality.”
As an organism ages, its cells gradually lose the capacity to faithfully convert the information in the DNA into functioning proteins, said William Mair of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who led the new study. “We know a lot about how ...
