Really Old Yeast
Micro World tells us that scientists have increased the life of yeast ten-fold.
Scientists have extended the lifespan of yeast, microbes responsible for creating bread and beer, by 10-fold. That’s twice the previous record for life extension in an organism. The breakthrough could ultimately inform efforts to extend human lives. Instead of one week, the yeast lived for about 10 weeks through genetic tinkering and a low-calorie diet. Brewer’s yeast, known formally as Saccharomyces cerevisiae, illuminated using a special technique called immunofluorescence. Scientists have recently extended the lifespan of the microscopic organism by both tinkering with aging genes and cutting the amount of calories it takes in
“We’ve reprogrammed the healthy life of an organism,” said Valter Longo, a biologist at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles who led the life-prolonging experiments.
Obvious question: can it give us really old beer?
Photo from Micro World
