A new mechanistic insight into fate decisions during yeast cell aging process.

Despite massive technological advances in mammalian models in recent years, studies in yeast still have the power to inform on the basic mechanisms of aging. Illustrating this, in Nan Hao's recent article published in the journal Science, he and his lab use microfluidics and fluorescent imaging technology to analyze the dynamics and interactions of aging mechanisms within yeast cells. They focused in on the Sir2 gene and the heme activator protein and, through the manipulation of these two molecular aging pathways, were able to determine that yeast cells can undergo one of three modes of aging, with one of them having a significantly longer lifespan than the others. These findings provide unexpected insights into mechanisms of aging, apparently as regulated fate-decision process, and open up avenues for future research.