Eliminating Germline Extends Fly Lifespan

U.S. biologists say they’ve discovered eliminating germline stem cells — the cells that make eggs and sperm — lengthens the life of fruit flies.

The Brown University researchers also found it alters the insects’ insulin production.

Scientists know molecular signals from the reproductive system affect aging and metabolism in animals – and possibly in humans. The researchers said their discovery also proposes a new mechanism of how such control might occur and offers a first glimpse of how the control in the fly might occur at the molecular level.

The findings follow a discovery made 10 years ago by biologist Cynthia Kenyon at the University of California-San Francisco. Kenyon found eliminating germline stem cells in roundworms extended their lifespan.

We wanted to see if Kenyon’s findings could be duplicated in the fly, said Professor Marc Tatar.If so, we’d know that reproductive control of lifespan was a general principle in biology.

The study by Tatar and postdoctoral researcher Thomas Flatt is detailed in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.