Abstract
Author SummaryWork on the model organisms C. elegans and D. melanogaster has contributed important and often surprising insights into the factors that determine lifespan. One intriguing finding is that lifespan in both animals can be extended or shortened by interfering with the function of neurons that smell or taste food. Indeed, specific taste neurons in C. elegans are required for the lifespan extension due to the restriction of the animals' level of food intake, while certain olfactory neurons in Drosophila inhibit this effect. Here we provide evidence that the sensory system also alters lifespan in response to specific food types as opposed to different food levels. C. elegans that feed on different E. coli strains can have different lifespans, which is not only dependent on the activities of a subset of sensory neurons but can also occur independently of food level restriction. We also show that the neuropeptide receptor NMUR-1 acts with the sensory system to affect lifespan in a manner dependent on the bacterial lipopolysaccharide structure. Thus, we identify both a food-derived factor and a component of a signaling pathway involved in the food-type effects on worm lifespan.
Highlights
The sensory systems of Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster have been shown to modulate the lifespan of these animals [1,2,3,4]
We found that at 25uC the mean lifespan of wild-type worms is shorter on OP50 than on HT115 (Figure 1A and 1B), another food source that is widely used [12,13]
To test the hypothesis that sensory perception contributes to these food source-dependent effects, we measured the lifespan of sensory mutants on OP50 and HT115 at this temperature
Summary
The sensory systems of Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster have been shown to modulate the lifespan of these animals [1,2,3,4] This sensory influence involves subsets of gustatory and olfactory neurons [2,3] that either shorten or lengthen lifespan, which suggests that (i) some of the cues that affect lifespan are food-derived and that (ii) these cues can exert different effects on lifespan. Not all but only a subset of food-sensing neurons influence the lifespan of C. elegans grown on the standard laboratory food source [2], Escherichia coli OP50 [11] Together these data raise the possibility that sensory neurons promote the lifespan effects of different food sources through a mechanism distinct from that of food-level restriction
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