综述: 秀丽线虫胰岛素类生长因子和雷帕霉素受体信号通路对衰老的调节作用

衰老表现为随着时间推移而带来的功能上的衰退和死亡率的上升.利用模式生物,研究人员已经证明,衰老受高度保守的信号通路所调控,而且遗传与环境因素的改变可以显著延长寿命并延缓功能上的衰退.作为一种模式生物,秀丽线虫由于其遗传操作的简单性以及基因组的高度保守性,已被广泛应用于现代生物学研究中.许多关于衰老的分子机理最初是在秀丽线虫中被阐明的.本文总结了秀丽线虫中高度保守的胰岛素类生长因子(IGF-1)和雷帕霉素受体(TOR)这两条信号通路调控衰老的研究进展,并对未来的研究方向展开了评述.

Review: The Nutrients-regulated Insulin/IGF-1 and TOR Pathways Play an Important Role in C. elegans Aging

Aging is a process of gradual functional decline accompanied with increased mortality rate. Using model organisms, researchers have demonstrated that aging is modulated by highly conserved signaling pathways, and genetic or environmental modulations can lead to significantly extended life span and delayed functional decline. Many exciting discoveries on the molecular mechanisms of aging were initially made in C. elegans, which is a great system for biology research because of the ease of genetic analysis and the conservation with higher species. Here we review the progress in aging research using C. elegans as a model. We focus on the highly conserved insulin/insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling (IIS) and target of rapamycin (TOR) pathway, as well as prospects for future studies.