控制衰老的基因电路

In the early 1990s, most scientists did not think that aging was subject to active regulation by the genes. Exciting results from Dr. Kenyon's lab, however, showed that a single mutation in the daf-2 gene caused the tiny roundworm C. elegans to live twice as long as normal. This gene encodes a hormone receptor that regulates lifespan not only in worms, but in flies, mammals and possibly humans as well.