TGF-beta Sma/Mab signaling mutations uncouple reproductive aging from somatic aging.

ABSTRACT: Female reproductive cessation is one of the earliest age-related declines humans experience, occurring in mid-adulthood. Similarly, Caenorhabditis elegans' reproductive span is short relative to its total life span, with reproduction ceasing about a third into its 15-20 day adulthood. All of the known mutations and treatments that extend C. elegans' reproductive period also regulate longevity, suggesting that reproductive span is normally linked to life span. C. elegans has two canonical TGF-beta signaling pathways. We recently found that the TGF-beta Dauer pathway regulates longevity through the Insulin/IGF-1 Signaling (IIS) pathway; here we show that this pathway has a moderate effect on reproductive span. By contrast, TGF-beta Sma/Mab signaling mutants exhibit a substantially extended r

SUBMITTER: Luo S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2791159 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature