Mild stress increases longevity

Aging is a nonadaptive process resulting from cumulative damage in cells, and the genes that control oxidative or other damage may have an effect on the timescale of the aging process. Insulin also has a role in the modulation of longevity, mediated via one of the insulin-like growth factor 1 receptor (IGF1-R) signal transduction pathways. The Caenorhabditis elegans IGF1-R homolog is known as DAF-2, and daf-2 signaling negatively regulates daf-16, a forkhead transcription factor controlling expression of genes involved in metabolism and redox control. This gene has multiple targets that could be involved in modulating the several functions of the insulin-signaling pathway. In the May 16 Science, Ao-Lin Hsu and colleagues at the University of California, San Francisco, demonstrate that a molecule important in modulating heat shock response also has a role in the control of aging and that DAF-16 and the heat shock factor 1 (HSF-1) transcription factor may ...