C. elegans Longevity Screen

The Caenorhabditis elegans is a perfect model organism to test longevity and aging due to its lifespan and size. In our longevity screen, we are searching for dominant mutations in F1 to further the healthy lifespan of the animals. A variety of strains are being used including: CF1844 (DAF-2 mutant), CF512, and Nuo-6. After doing mutagenesis on the animals, they are allowed to lay embryos that will have mutations. These animals are then grown up over 120% of their lifespans (found via testing) to show that they lived past their expected death date. These worms are then frozen and sent for genome sequencing, where mutations can be found. Mutations will be compared to the unmutated sequence generated via PCR from healthy animals. Then, using CRISPR, we will induce the mutations in healthy worms to see if the same phenotypes occur. Finally, homologous genes in humans are to be found to slow the aging process to allow people to live longer.