Caenorhabditis elegans is a free-living, transparent nematode (roundworm), about 1 mm in length, which lives in temperate soil environments.
In an effort to understand the molecular mechanisms that control aging, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers and their colleagues have now uncovered 10 new genes that regulate longevity in yeast. The studies also suggest a new model for how aging is slowed when caloric intake is restricted.
The Quaking gene, first described as a mutation in mice that causes rapid tremor, is thought to suppress tumor formation and protect humans from cancer.
University of Utah biologists found a gene that controls rhythmic events in a worm's life: swallowing food, laying eggs and pooping.
Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have identified a previously unknown family of virulence factors that make the bacterium responsible for the plague especially efficient at killing its host.
A team of genomic researchers headed by biologists at New York University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics, in collaboration with researchers at Harvard University, the Max Planck Institute, and Cenix Biosciences, has mapped out a preliminary molecular diagram of the early stages of embryo formation, offering for the first time a global look at how a single cell begins its path into a multi-cellular organism.
A defect in the mechanics of motors that build tiny cellular hairs is the basis of a serious genetic disorder, according to researchers at UC Davis and Simon Fraser University, Canada.
According to U.S. scientists how well you respond to stress predicts how long you will live, at least if you are a worm.
Researchers have identified 23 new longevity genes by screening the genome of Caenorhabditis elegans, a small worm that is used as a model organism in genetics studies. The findings are reported in the inaugural issue of PLoS Genetics.
The findings also may lead to an improved understanding of a disorder called early-onset torsion dystonia.
Researchers at New York University and the medical schools at Harvard and Yale universities have identified new genes necessary for embryonic development, according to findings published in the latest issue of Genome Research.