Van Voorhies Wayne A, Fuchs Jacqueline, Thomas Stephen
Molecular Biology Program, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM 88003, USA.
Biol Lett. 2005 Jun 22;1(2):247-9. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2004.0278.
Relatively simple model organisms such as yeast, fruit-flies and the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, have proven to be invaluable resources in biological studies. An example is the widespread use of C. elegans to investigate the complex process of ageing. An important issue when interpreting results from these studies is the similarity of the observed C. elegans mortality pattern in the laboratory to that expected in its natural environment. We found that the longevity of C. elegans under more natural conditions is reduced up to 10-fold compared with standard laboratory culture conditions. Additionally, C. elegans mutants that live twice as long as wild-type worms in laboratory conditions typically die sooner than wild-type worms in a natural soil. These results indicate that conclusions regarding extended longevity drawn from standard laboratory assays may not extend to animals in their native environment.
相对简单的模式生物，如酵母、果蝇和线虫秀丽隐杆线虫，已被证明是生物学研究中非常宝贵的资源。一个例子是广泛使用秀丽隐杆线虫来研究衰老的复杂过程。解释这些研究结果时的一个重要问题是，在实验室中观察到的秀丽隐杆线虫死亡模式与其在自然环境中的预期模式的相似性。我们发现，与标准实验室培养条件相比，秀丽隐杆线虫在更自然条件下的寿命缩短了多达10倍。此外，在实验室条件下寿命是野生型蠕虫两倍的秀丽隐杆线虫突变体，在天然土壤中通常比野生型蠕虫更早死亡。这些结果表明，从标准实验室测定得出的关于延长寿命的结论可能不适用于其原生环境中的动物。
