Ishii N, Takahashi K, Tomita S, Keino T, Honda S, Yoshino K, Suzuki K
Department of Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Tokai University, Kanagawa, Japan.
Mutat Res. 1990 May-Jul;237(3-4):165-71. doi: 10.1016/0921-8734(90)90022-j.
A methyl viologen (paraquat)-sensitive mutant, mev-1 (LG III), in Caenorhabditis elegans was about 4 times more sensitive to methyl viologen than the wild type. This mutant was also hypersensitive to oxygen. The brood size was about 1/4 that of the wild type. The average life span was determined to be 9.3 days as compared to 14.3 days for the wild type. The activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), a scavenging enzyme for superoxide anion, was about half the wild-type level. We suggest that oxygen radicals may be involved in the normal aging mechanism in C. elegans.
