Research Perspective|Volume 2, Issue 1|pp 69—73

Aging: Dial M for Mitochondria

Jae H. Hur¹, Jaehyoung Cho¹, David W. Walker^1,²

¹Department of Physiological Science, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
²Molecular Biology Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA

Received: January 14, 2010Accepted: January 25, 2010Published: January 26, 2010

Copyright: © 2010 Hur et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

A major goal of aging research is to identify interventions that prolong lifespan in distantly related organisms. In recent years, genetic studies in both nematodes and rodents have reported that moderate inactivation of genes important for mitochondrial electron transport chain (ETC) function can promote longevity. We performed an RNAi screen to probe the role of ETC components in modulating lifespan in the fruit flyDrosophila melanogaster. In this Research Perspective, we discuss our findings and how they may relate to similar studies in worms and mice.