Timing Requirements for Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling in C. elegans
Andrew Dillin,*
Douglas K. Crawford,
Cynthia Kenyon
The insulin/IGF-1 (where IGF-1 is insulin-like growth
factor-1) signaling pathway influences longevity, reproduction, and diapause in many organisms. Because of the fundamental importance of
this system in animal physiology, we asked when during the animal's
life it is required to regulate these different processes. We find that
in Caenorhabditis elegans, the pathway acts during adulthood, to relatively advanced ages, to influence aging. In contrast, it regulates diapause during development. In addition, the
pathway controls longevity and reproduction independently of one
another. Together our findings show that life-span regulation can be
dissociated temporally from phenotypes that might seem to decrease the
quality of life.
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of
California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 94143-0448, USA.
*
Present address: Molecular and Cell Biology Laboratory, The Salk
Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
ckenyon{at}biochem.ucsf.edu
