Chemosensation and longevity in C. elegans

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Chemical cues, such as odors and tastants, are best known to regulate animal behavior. Interestingly, such chemical cues not just regulate behavior, but also other types of critical physiological processes such as longevity. While chemosensory regulation of behavior has been extensively characterized, much less effort has been devoted to investigating how chemical cues regulate longevity. Food is a primary environmental factor that affects aging. Dietary restriction (DR) represents one of the most effective means to extend lifespan in all tested organisms. How dietary restriction (DR) promotes longevity has been a subject of intensive research; however, the underlying mechanisms are far from clear. Previous effort has mostly focused on characterizing how food nutrients regulate longevity. It should be noted that in addition to nutrients, other components are also found in food. One notable example is the odors associated with food. However, though the mechanisms by which nutrient signaling regulates lifespan has been extensively characterized, much less is known about the role of food odors in longevity. As such, it remains largely unclear whether, to what extent, and how food odors regulates longevity. It is also unclear how the chemosensory system is involved. As odors are integral components of food, addressing this question will help us to achieve a better understanding of how DR promotes longevity. It will also help us to understand how the chemosensory system regulates longevity. C. elegans is a nice genetic model for aging research. Thus far, nearly all the major longevity pathways were first discovered in invertebrate models such as worms, flies and yeast, and subsequently were found to be evolutionarily conserved in mammals. This, together with a short lifespan (~3 weeks) and facile genetics, makes C. elegans a highly valuable model for aging research. We found that food odors regulate DR longevity in C. elegans, and that the chemosensory system plays a key role in mediating the effect of food-derived odors on DR longevity. Here, we propose to investigate the underlying neural and genetic mechanisms. To do so, we will use a combination of neuroscience and aging research tools. As longevity mechanisms tend to be evolutionarily conserved from worms to mammals, the proposed work will provide novel insights into DR- dependent longevity in other organisms.