By Sam Blanchard Health Reporter For Mailonline
Published: 09:24 GMT, 5 March 2019 | Updated: 09:24 GMT, 5 March 2019
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An anti-ageing pill could be in the making after scientists found a way to double the lifespan of a worm.
Switching off a gene believed to trigger the body's decline made roundworms live more than twice as long as usual in an experiment.
Experts say making the connection to the equivalent process in the human body could make the science apply to us, too.
And the same long-lived worms also gave birth to healthier, more fertile offspring suggesting the benefits would pass down through generations.
People could one day live longer with the help of gene-editing which can turn off the gene which causes ageing to damage the body, according to researchers (stock image)
Researchers from the University of East Anglia stopped the function of a gene called DAF-2 in a group of Caenorhabditis elegans – 1mm-long worms.
By stopping this gene the scientists more than doubled the average life of the tiny creatures, which are found in soil.
They believe this is because the chemical stimulated by that gene is one which controls growth – while it necessary to help the animals reach maturity to be able to reproduce, it continues to age them without any benefits in later life.
Reducing quantities of the chemical once the worm reached adulthood slowed down its life cycle, the study suggests, putting off the inevitable decline of its body.
'It is often thought we age because of a slow accumulation of unrepaired cellular damage in our bodies,' said Dr Alexei Maklakov.
'And that ageing is the result of energy trade-offs between growth, reproduction and survival.
'But we now know that switching off the function of certain genes in adulthood can increase longevity without a reproduction cost.
