{"id":1279,"date":"2024-10-08T02:17:29","date_gmt":"2024-10-08T02:17:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joshmitteldorf.peachpuff-wolverine-566518.hostingersite.com\/?p=1279"},"modified":"2024-10-08T02:17:29","modified_gmt":"2024-10-08T02:17:29","slug":"gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2024\/10\/08\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\/","title":{"rendered":"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gary Ruvkun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine today for establishing the importance of RNA as a signal molecule, independent of its role in transcribing nuclear DNA.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Before he worked on RNA, Ruvkun made important contributions to theoretical understanding of aging in lab worms, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">C. elegans<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. In 1993, Cynthia Kenyon had found that incapacitating the DAF-2 gene doubled the worms\u2019 lifespan. This was extraordinary \u2014 only the second life extension from a single gene. The worms were not getting any new ability, but merely disabling a gene that they already had. This indicated that DAF-2 was a life-shortening gene. Darwinian theorists didn\u2019t think this was possible.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Kenyon identified DAF-2 as the worm\u2019s only insulin receptor. We think of insulin as regulating blood sugar, but worms have no blood and no blood sugar level. Long before vertebrates developed a role for insulin in regulating blood sugar, insulin was a life regulating hormone.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We already knew that when the worm senses food, lifespan was shorter than when food was scarce. Kenyon established that insulin was the signal that mediated this effect.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This brings us to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.science.org\/doi\/10.1126\/science.290.5489.147\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ruvkun\u2019s contribution<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Working in his Harvard lab a few years after Kenyon\u2019s discovery, he created chimeric worms with different genomes in different tissues. He was able to disable DAF-2 just in the digestive system, or just in the muscles, or just in the nervous system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Are you guessing yet?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">DAF-2 in the digestive system had no effect on lifespan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">DAF-2 in muscle tissue had no effect on lifespan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">All of the lifespan-shortening effect of DAF-2 was accomplished through the nervous system.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The message was clear in neon lights \u2014 the caloric restriction effect isn\u2019t about a metabolic trade-off. It\u2019s something decided through signal processing. When there is plenty of food, the nerves make a calculation that it would be better to die sooner; and when food is scare, the worm decides to live longer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Lifespan is not imposed on animals by physical limits or physiological tradeoffs. Lifespan is regulated, and, what is more, there is a conserved mechanism regulating lifespan in diverse species, inherited throughout the animal kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cDespite\u2026vast differences in life-span, shared features of aging in diverse species support the existence of a common mechanism for life-span determination.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Pleiotropy, re-imagined<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In subsequent years, Ruvkun\u2019s lab screened for other genes that shorten lifespan. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/journals.plos.org\/plosgenetics\/article?id=10.1371\/journal.pgen.0030056\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">He found 64 of them<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. Most of these genes are active in development, but they are re-purposed late in life to regulate lifespan. All eukaryotes have extensive networks of transcription factors that determine when and where genes are activated. It would be easy for the worm to de-activate these genes later in life, but instead, the worm keeps them active, with the effect of shortening lifespan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Once again, he was able to trace the role of these same genes in different animals. Lifespan-shortening functions of the same genes are widely conserved across the animal kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gary Ruvkun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine today for establishing the importance of RNA as a signal molecule, independent of its role in transcribing nuclear DNA. Before he worked on RNA, Ruvkun made important contributions to theoretical understanding of aging in lab worms, C. elegans. In 1993, Cynthia Kenyon had found that incapacitating &#8230; <a title=\"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2024\/10\/08\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1280,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging - Josh Mitteldorf<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2024\/10\/08\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Gary Ruvkun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine today for establishing the importance of RNA as a signal molecule, independent of its role in transcribing nuclear DNA. Before he worked on RNA, Ruvkun made important contributions to theoretical understanding of aging in lab worms, C. elegans. In 1993, Cynthia Kenyon had found that incapacitating ... Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2024\/10\/08\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-10-08T02:17:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/c-elegans.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"3932\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"929\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Josh Mitteldorf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Josh Mitteldorf\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/214c5d1dad9f15c48f03128d5cfccdb1\"},\"headline\":\"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-08T02:17:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":493,\"commentCount\":27,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/2\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/c-elegans.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2024\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/2024\\\/10\\\/08\\\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\\\/\",\"name\":\"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging - 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\\\/\\\/mathforum.org\\\/~josh\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/AgingAdvice.org\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/scienceblog.com\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/author\\\/joshmitteldorf\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging - Josh Mitteldorf","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/2024\/10\/08\/gary-ruvkun-and-the-science-of-aging\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gary Ruvkun and the Science of Aging","og_description":"Gary Ruvkun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine today for establishing the importance of RNA as a signal molecule, independent of its role in transcribing nuclear DNA. 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The surprising fact that our bodies are genetically programmed to age and to die offers an enormous opportunity for medical intervention. It may be that therapies to slow the progress of aging need not repair or regenerate anything, but only need to interfere with an existing program of self-destruction. Mitteldorf has taught a weekly yoga class for thirty years. He is an advocate for vigorous self care, including exercise, meditation and caloric restriction. After earning a PhD in astrophysicist, Mitteldorf moved to evolutionary biology as a primary field in 1996. He has taught at Harvard, Berkeley, Bryn Mawr, LaSalle and Temple University. He is presently affiliated with MIT as a visiting scholar. In private life, Mitteldorf is an advocate for election integrity as well as public health. He is an avid amateur musician, playing piano in chamber groups, French horn in community orchestras. His two daughters are among the first children adopted from China in the mid-1980s. Much to the surprise of evolutionary biologists, genetic experiments indicate that aging has been selected as an adaptation for its own sake. This poses a conundrum: the impact of aging on individual fitness is wholly negative, so aging must be regarded as a kind of evolutionary altruism. Unlike other forms of evolutionary altruism, aging offers benefits to the community that are weak, and not well focussed on near kin of the altruist. This makes the mechanism challenging to understand and to model. more at http:\/\/mathforum.org\/~josh","sameAs":["http:\/\/AgingAdvice.org"],"url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/author\/joshmitteldorf\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/10\/c-elegans.png","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pgtN8h-kD","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scienceblog.com\/joshmitteldorf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}