Evolutionary and experimental biology of ageing: What can we learn from noncanonical model organisms
Max Planck Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Cologne, Germany
Life expectancy is a species-specific phenotype, and results from the complex interaction between the genome and the environment. Whereas two major molecular pathways have been identified in non-vertebrates, it is time to shed light on gene families that are specifically relevant to vertebrate ageing, such as those involved in stem cells maintenance, cancer and adaptive immunity!