Puzzling Out the Pieces
Esther Wei-Yun Landhuis · Science of Aging Knowledge Environment · 2004
Solving a particular jigsaw puzzle from a mound of pieces poses a challenge, especially when the pieces are from multiple puzzles. Scientists face a similar hurdle when fitting together the mechanisms of two well-studied life-extending methods, given the huge number of molecules in an organism. Using gene-chip technology, they have now pulled out some probable key components. The work supports the notion that two life-extension pathways harness some of the same molecules, and it also focuses researchers on specific genes that participate in these pathways.