Humans may one day thank the fruit fly for extending their lives.
Last week, a team of researchers led by Professor of Biology Stephen Helfand found that a gene mutation dramatically increases the lifespan of fruit flies, a discovery that may be beneficial to humans in delaying the aging process. The findings were published on Jan. 21 in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Helfand and Assistant Professor of Brain and Neural Science (Research) Nicola Neretti found that this gene - called the "Indy" gene - was involved in reducing the activity of the oxidative phosphorylation pathway that produces damaging free radicals during the conversion of nutrients to energy in cells.
"We knew that there was a mutation in a gene," said Neretti, first author of the paper that outlined the discovery. "What wasn't known about this is how exactly this happens."
The goal of the study was to discover the genetic difference between flies with the mutation and flies without it, Neretti said.
"One of the main differences that popped out of this study was that genes that were involved in the specific pathway that is called oxidative phosphorylation, were significantly different between the two types of flies," he said. Flies that possess the mutated gene produce fewer free radicals during the activity of this pathway.
Because free radicals are linked to damage that occurs during aging, reducing the production of these harmful chemicals through this gene mutation delays the aging process in fruit flies, Neretti said.
He said the Indy gene that is mutated in these flies has a homologue - an equivalent gene - in humans. Though this gene in humans is not very well-characterized, Neretti said, he hopes it might be possible to reproduce the same kinds of physiological changes seen in the fruit flies to slow the aging process.
But Neretti also said the mutation might be a "more general mechanism to extend lifespan," adding that there were other mutations and interventions that can increase an organism's lifetime.
The study began several years ago as a multi-center study initiated by the University of Connecticut. During the preliminary research, Helfand collaborated with Rogina Blanka, assistant professor in the department of genetics and developmental biology at the University of Connecticut.
Neretti and Helfand's recent study, which was funded by the National Institute on Aging and the Ellison Medical Foundation, involved computational analysis and follow-up experiments, Neretti said. Researchers from the University of Chicago, along with Blanka, were also involved in the study.
Because the discovery was made so recently, experts in the field of aging and its mechanisms - Leonard Guarente, a professor of biology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Gary Ruvkun, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School - were unable to comment on the significance of the breakthrough.
But Neretti said the general response in the scientific community was already positive.
"We had a lot of people that studied this pathway that were interested in this finding just because this finding is consistent to what part of the community is thinking in terms of how to extend lifespan," he said. But Neretti stressed the need for follow-up experiments. "But I would say it's a little too early ... and we also need to wait a little bit until more people read this paper and comment on this paper."
