Kenyon daf-2 experiment
The Kenyon daf-2 experiment was a 1993 genetic study in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans that showed a single mutation can double adult lifespan. Cynthia Kenyon’s laboratory found that mutations in daf-2 let fertile, active adult hermaphrodites live more than twice as long as wild-type animals, and that the effect required a second gene, daf-16. The result made aging a genetically regulated process, and it opened the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway as a conserved control point for longevity.123
Background
C. elegans exits the reproductive life cycle and enters the dauer diapause stage when it senses crowding and starvation. Dauer larvae are long-lived and stress-resistant, and genetic screens had identified daf-2 and daf-16 among the
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