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Genes belong to a process called autophagy – this one of the cells most critical survival processes, it promotes health and fitness in young worms but drive the process of ageing later in life.
Promoting longevity by closing down autophagy in old worms improves neuronal and subsequent whole body health. Getting old happens to every species, natural selection results in the fittest individuals for a given environment surviving to breed and pass on their genes to the next generation.
The more fruitful a trait is at promoting reproductive success, the stronger the selection for that trait will be. Some genes encourage ageing while still being essential for development, there are series of genes involved in regulating autophagy, which accelerate the ageing process.
The process of autophagy is a critical recycling process in the cell. Autophagy is known to become slower with age and closing it down in the initiation of the process allows the worms to live longer.
There are severe negative consequences when it breaks down and then you are better off bypassing it all together. In young worms, autophagy is working properly and is essential to reach maturity but after reproduction, it begins to malfunction causing the worms to age.
By inactivating autophagy in the neurons of old worms they were able to prolong the worms life and increased the total health of the worms. Turning autophagy off only in one tissue and the whole animal gets a boost. The neurons are much healthier in the treated worms and keeps the muscles and the rest of the body in good shape.
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