An opinion paper by researchers who feel that too much emphasis is placed on the discovery of longevity mutations: “The biological reasons for ageing are now well known, so it is no longer an unsolved problem in biology. Furthermore, there is only one science of ageing, which is continually advancing. The significance and importance of the mutations that lengthen the lifespan of invertebrates can be assessed only in relationship to previous well-established studies of ageing. The mutant strains of model organisms that increase longevity have altered nutrient signalling pathways similar to the effects of dietary restriction, and so it is likely that there is a shift in the trade-off between reproduction and maintenance … To believe that the isolation and characterisation of a few invertebrate mutations (as well as those in yeast) will ‘galvanise’ the field and provide new insights into human ageing is an extreme point of view which does not recognize the huge progress in ageing research that has been made in the last 50 years or so.” I believe that the focus on longevity mutations is not the most effective use of resources, but for different reasons: it’s a part of the metabolic manipulation school of slowing aging, which is a slow path to a poor end result in comparison to repair strategies.

View the Article Under Discussion: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20549352

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