Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk
Health News Article | Reuters.co.uk: "WASHINGTON (Reuters) - How well you respond to stress predicts how long you will live, at least if you are a little worm, U.S. scientists reported on Monday.

Genetically identical worms responded to stress in greatly different ways -- and those with more active stress reactions lived much longer than worms with less active stress proteins, the researchers found. More active stress responses suggest the animal is coping with the stress.

The findings will almost certainly apply to humans in some way, they report in this week's issue of the journal Nature Genetics.

Shane Rea of the University of Colorado at Boulder tested more than 100 nematodes known as Caenorhabditis elegans -- a worm favored by scientists because it is easy to work with.

Despite its tiny size, C. elegans is genetically complex and has much in common with 'higher' animals such as humans.

They genetically engineered the little transparent worms to carry a jellyfish gene called green fluorescent protein, which glows green under certain light. They tagged this gene to a gene called hsp-16.2, a stress protein found in most organisms that is associated with the health of cells."
- posted by Gp @ 8:36 AM