Grant Awarded to Discover Aging Genes

There are substantial differences among individuals in lifespan, and a range of environmental and genetic factors contribute to this variation. Given the difficulty controlling environmental factors (e.g. diet) in direct human studies, and the fact that humans are very long-lived, we know surprisingly little about the genetic basis of aging variation in humans, despite age being a major risk factor for a range of human diseases.

Dr. Macdonald’s lab, in collaboration with Dr. Tony Long at UC Irvine, will leverage the power of the model system Drosophila melanogaster, and conduct massive-scale genetic studies using tens of thousands of individuals, comparing groups of very old animals to younger cohorts of flies using genome sequencing tools. By specifically controlling environmental conditions, they can focus on the genetic contribution to lifespan variation, and identify genes involved in determining lifespan. Additionally, the team will explore variation in the response to dietary restriction, a life-extending treatment seen in multiple organisms.

This work has been funded by a 2-year NIH-NIA R21 award entitled "Evaluating a powerful genetic mapping framework to discover lifespan extension genes in Drosophila” (R21 AG086734).