Environmental Stress and the Biology of Aging

Author:

Henry Telenchana

Co-authors:

Olivia Tong

Angelic Malarve-Henry

Mentor:

Jun Liang, PhD

Abstract:

The process of aging is often linked to the accumulation of cellular and environmental stress factors that contribute to the decline of biological processes and the appearance of age-related diseases. How organisms respond to environmental stressors is key to understanding the mechanisms behind prolonging their lifespan. Our experiment looks at how thermal stress influences cellular responses to environmental stressors in the organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. We used C. elegans as a model organism because of its rapid life cycle and well defined biology which makes it ideal for research components associated with aging. Specifically, we used the transgenic EXL-1::GFP strains of C. elegans to track the cellular localization of EXL-1 proteins. We exposed the transgenic worms to various extreme temperatures, made slides and then imaged them with fluorescence microscopy to visualize the EXL-1 proteins. The fluorescence patterns of the stressed EXL-1::GFP strain of C. elegans worms were altered. Many of the intestinal cell structures were not as visible, which may suggest an increase in cellular damage. Currently, our results support the conclusion that environmental factors may adversely affect cellular integrity, thus contributing to the aging process.