Increased longevity of diet-restricted Caenorhabditis elegans requires the transcription factor gene skn-1 acting in the ASIs, a pair of neurons in the head. Dietary restriction activates skn-1 in the ASIs, which signals peripheral tissues to increase metabolic activity. These findings demonstrate that increased lifespan in a diet-restricted nematode depends on signalling from central neuronal cells to non-neuronal body tissues, and suggest that the ASIs mediate dietary restriction-induced longevity by an endocrine mechanism.
- Nicholas A. Bishop
- Leonard Guarente