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Long lifespan in worms with long telomeric DNA

Nature Genetics volume 36, pages 607–611 (2004)Cite this article

A Corrigendum to this article was published on 01 January 2005

Abstract

Telomere length is a crucial factor in senescence1,2,3, but it has not been determined whether animals with long telomeres live longer than those with normal-length telomeres in the isogenic background of a given species. Here we show the effect of long telomeres on lifespan in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. We examined the effect of telomere length on lifespan by overexpressing HRP-1, a telomere-binding protein, which gradually increased telomere length in worms. Worms with longer telomeres lived longer. We confirmed that the extension of lifespan was due to the increased telomere length, and not to the overexpression of HRP-1 per se, by examining the lifespans of nontransgenic progeny of the transgenic worms, who retained the longer telomeres. The lifespan-extending effect of long telomeres was dependent on daf-16. The number of germ stem cells was not affected in worms with long telomeres, indicating that the telomere effect on lifespan is independent of germ stem cell cycling. Worms with long telomeres were more resistant to heat stress. Taken together, our results suggest that signaling may be initiated in postmitotic somatic cells by telomere length to regulate organismal lifespan.

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Figure 1: Identification and characterization of a single-stranded telomeric DNA binding protein, HRP-1, in C. elegans.
Figure 2: Overexpression of HRP-1 increases telomere length.
Figure 3: Worms with lengthened telomeric DNA have extended lifespan.
Figure 4: Worms with extended telomeric DNA have greater resistance to heat shock, and this effect is dependent on daf-16.

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Acknowledgements

We thank C. Kenyon for her comments and invaluable advice on this project, A. Fire for the vectors and CGC for the strains. This project was supported by the Molecular Aging Research Center Grant (HPEB, Korea).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, National Research Laboratory and Molecular Aging Research Center, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon, Seoul, 120-749, Korea

    Kyu Sang Joeng & Junho Lee

  2. Division of Molecular Life Sciences and College of Pharmacy, Center for Cell Signaling Research, Ewha Womans University, Seoul, 120-750, Korea

    Eun Joo Song & Kong-Joo Lee

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  1. Kyu Sang Joeng
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Correspondence to Junho Lee.

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Joeng, K., Song, E., Lee, KJ. et al. Long lifespan in worms with long telomeric DNA. Nat Genet 36, 607–611 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/ng1356

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