Researchers develop mitoflash technique to predict lifespan of nematodes
Thursday, February 13, 2014 - 10:00
in Biology & Nature
(Phys.org) —A team of researchers in China has added fluorescence to proteins inside the muscle cells of nematodes to monitor metabolic activity in the mitochondria. In so doing, they have found a link between the frequency of mitochondrial flashes (mitoflashes) observed and the lifespan of the nematode. In their paper published in the journal Nature, the team describes how they discovered that adding fluorescence to mitochondrial allowed for the observation of the impact of free radicals on inner cell workings, shedding light on the aging process in general.