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Drosophila pp 291–302Cite as

Protocols to Study Aging in Drosophila

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Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 1478))

Abstract

The fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster offers a host of advantages for studying the biology of aging: a well-understood biology, a wide range of genetic reagents, well-defined dietary requirements, and a relatively short life span, with a median of ~80 days and maximum ~100 days. Several phenotypes can be used to assess the aging process, but the simplest and most widely used metric is length of life. Here we describe a standard life span assay for Drosophila housed on a simple sugar/yeast diet.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank members of the Partridge and Piper laboratories who contributed helpful suggestions and tips. In particular: S. Grönke, T. Niccoli, A. Tillmann, and N. Woodling. We acknowledge the following sources of funding: the Royal Society (UF100158 & RG110303), AustralianResearch Council (FT150100237) (MDWP); the Wellcome Trust UK (098565/Z/12/Z), Max Planck Society, and the European Research Council under the European Unions Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013), European Research Council grant agreement 268739 (L.P.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Healthy Ageing and Department Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, Gower St, London, UK

    Matthew D. W. Piper & Linda Partridge

  2. Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing, Joseph-Stelzmann-Str. 9b, D-50931, Köln, Germany

    Linda Partridge

  3. School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, 3800, Australia

    Matthew D. W. Piper

Authors
  1. Matthew D. W. Piper
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  2. Linda Partridge
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Linda Partridge .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Genetics, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany

    Christian Dahmann

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Piper, M.D.W., Partridge, L. (2016). Protocols to Study Aging in Drosophila . In: Dahmann, C. (eds) Drosophila. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 1478. Humana Press, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6371-3_18

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-6371-3_18

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-6369-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-6371-3

  • eBook Packages: Springer Protocols

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