Length or Health?

On the left, a trio of old nematode worms paralysed by a buildup of toxic protein clumps similar to those seen in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. On the right, worms that differ in only one respect: they’re missing a gene called TCER-1. Previous research suggested that TCER-1 helps to give worms a longer life and boosts their fertility, so the loss of this gene should be a bad thing. Curiously, the opposite seems to be true. When scientists removed TCER-1 from worms, the modified animals are better able to withstand the negative effects of infectious bacteria, DNA-damaging radiation, toxic protein buildup and harmful high temperatures as they get older. The researchers think that while TCER-1 is helpful when worms are young and fertile, it can be harmful once they’re past reproductive age. Now they want to find out whether the same is true in humans.

Written by Kat Arney

Kat Arney

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Dr Kat Arney is an award-winning science writer, broadcaster and public speaker, and is the founder and Creative Director of First Create The Media.

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• Video from the Ghazi Lab, University of Pittsburgh
• Departments of Pediatrics, Developmental Biology and Cell Biology and Physiology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Video copyright held by the original authors
• Research published in Nature Communications, July 2019