Final Report Summary - GENSTAGE (Genome Stability Mechanisms in Aging)
The GENSTAGE project aims to unravel the mechanisms through which genome instability leads to ageing. We are interested in how response mechanisms to DNA damage influence ageing-associated diseases and accelerate the ageing process in rare congenital progeroid syndromes. In the GENSTAGE project we have employed the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans as genetically traceable model system to study the consequences of genome instability during animal development and ageing. We have uncovered novel links between longevity assurance mechanisms that maintain the function of cells and tissues and the response to DNA damage accumulation with ageing. We uncovered novel connections between the occurrence of DNA damage and systemic responses that allow animals to adapt to increasing damage loads with ageing.