Journal Article

Biodemographic trajectories of age-specific reproliferation from stationary phase in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae seem multiphasic

Gendron, C. M., Minois, N., Fabrizio, P., Longo, V. D., Pletcher, S. D., Vaupel, J. W.
Mechanisms of Ageing and Development, 124:10-12, 1059–1063 (2003)

Abstract

Ageing is usually seen as a monotonic decline of functions and survival. However, recent studies reported that age-specific mortality rates increased and then leveled off or even declined at later ages in several species including humans. Preliminary data using the yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, demonstrated an even more complicated, non-monotonic pattern of reproliferation after stationary phase (i.e. the ability of a cell to exit stationary phase and form a colony). In the present article, we conducted a study of the age-specific reproliferation rates of yeast populations. Stationary phase yeast cells were maintained in water and the reproliferation rates were estimated by the number of yeast able to exit stationary phase on rich growth media. We showed that the age-specific reproliferation rates in yeast seem to rise, fall and rise again. Furthermore, we observed this pattern in different experiments and in different genotypes and established that this pattern was not due to genetic heterogeneity of the populations. Author Keywords: Biodemography; Saccharomyces cerevisiae; Age-specific reproliferation rates; Heterogeneity
The Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (MPIDR) in Rostock is one of the leading demographic research centers in the world. It's part of the Max Planck Society, the internationally renowned German research society.