RE: C. elegans worms have the ability to regulate their age, humans could soon
The study by the researchers revealed that it is the first time that the different organs has been shown to regulate an organism’s lifespan.
This not the first time that different tissues have been shown to regulate aging in C. elegans. It has been over 30 years since the discovery that DAF-2 (insulin like receptor) regulates longevity in worms. And since then many C. elegans researchers have shown (debated) which tissues DAF16/FOXO functions to regulate aging. In fact ablating a single neuron has been shown to extend longevity in C. elegans. The nervous system, intestine and germline are all tissues that have been shown previously to regulate aging in C. elegans.
C. elegans is the most understood animal (sorry Drosophila people) at the cell, molecular and genetic level. And it has contributed immensely to many aspects of biology including aging. Thanks for this post @rickie! I was considering writing a steemit post on C. elegans as I love C. elegans! For those who are really interested in the aging research done in C. elegans please see this recent review article in nature.
Actually @rcebike, it is the first time that the signals involved in the worm's longevity process have been discovered as being transmitted from the intestines to other parts of the body. The study itself isn't just beginning it's been on for years. So, I think you are mistaken about the organs involved in the process and the DAF-16 protein.
Before now, the debate has been majorly on if there was a possibility of replicating the study and procedure in higher animals. But is was recently discovered that the medium and major organs involved in the whole mechanism and longevity system are found in higher animals, other than worms. Hence, the new expanded research. Thanks for reading and sharing @rcebike.
@rickie I agree this is a very exciting piece of the work. Yes, I somewhat agree with your statement:
The paper shows the signals released are from neurons to gut, not gut to other parts of the body (although this is likely as DAF-16/FOXO may activate signals genes in the gut). The temperature sensing neurons when sensing cold use neurotransmitters glutamate and serotonin, whereas when sensing warmth the neurons release insulin-like neuropeptides. These signals act on the gut to regulate DAF-16/FOXO in the intestine. Although insulin neuropeptides (signals) has been for shown to be affect aging by regulating DAF-16. This paper furthers the aging research by showing glutamate and serotonin are involved.
What I disagree on is this sentence:
This is simply not true. It is the discovery of the signal from the neurons to the gut that is what is new. There are several papers that report a role for DAF-16 in the nervous system and several papers that report a role for DAF-16 in the gut (i.e. this current one) in controlling longevity. There has been a lot of contradictory work in the C. elegans aging research in describing which tissues regulate organismal aging. I think where we might be having problems with this sentence because of the word "organs", many C. elegans researchers myself included think of the tissue types in C. elegans as "organs" as some argue C. elegans don't have the organs like we have in humans, for example the brain. We call a collection of neurons (the nerve ring) the C. elegans' brain.
@rickie please do not take my comments as negative on your work. I love the science posts people are positing on steemit. As a scientist I want to make sure what is written is accurate. As you know this is an important part of science. Often the media blows scientific results out of proportion and sometimes outright wrong. This sensationalism in the media is hard to correct but at least I feel I can have some say on steemit. I want scientific related (especially genetics) posts to be as accurate as possible.
One recommendation is to please include a reference to the original paper that this post is about. Many of the press releases fail to do that and I feel this is very important. Keep up the good work.
Cheers!
Ian
Zhang et. al (2018). Brain-gut communications via distinct neuroendocrine signals bidirectionally regulate longevity in C. elegans. Genes Dev. 2018 Feb 1;32(3-4):258-270. doi: 10.1101/gad.309625.117.