Indy gene variation in natural populations confers fitness advantage and life span extension through transposon insertion
10 years, 1 month ago
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Posted on Mar 13, 2014, 3 p.m.
The longevity gene Indy (I'm not dead yet) confers both increased reproduction and longevity through metabolic changes [fruitfly]
The transposon insertion regulates Indy expression level, which has experimentally been shown to affect life span and fecundity. The mechanism of heterozygote advantage has acted upon the Indy gene to assure increased reproductive fitness and, coincidentally, longer life span through regulatory transposon mutagenesis.
Zhu CT, Chang C, Reenan RA, Helfand SL. Aging (Albany NY). 2014 Jan;6(1):58-69.