NORMAL LIFE: Top: Somatic (blue) and germline (green) cells of C. elegans Bottom: Mutant worms with germline factors in somatic cells are not longer lived.SUSAN STROME, PNAS, 113:3591-96, 2016
The paper A.K. Knutson et al., “Reevaluation of whether a soma–to–germ-line transformation extends lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans,” PNAS, 113:3591-96, 2016. Oldies Germline cells are considered immortal, because, unlike somatic cells, they can theoretically replicate indefinitely. In 2009, a study by Gary Ruvkun’s lab at Harvard Medical School reported that an insulin-deficient, long-lived Caenorhabditis elegans mutant, daf-2, misexpressed genes coding for germline factors called P-granules in its somatic cells—a result the team linked back to the mutants’ longevity (Nature, 459:1079-84). Take two The findings piqued the curiosity of C. elegans researcher and P-granule expert Susan Strome of the University of California, Santa Cruz. Interested in performing related research, she and her group set out to replicate the findings. Missing pieces Strome and colleagues searched for germline ...
