Tier 3 — preclinical

Glycine promotes longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans in a methionine cycle-dependent fashion

Liu YJ, Janssens GE, McIntyre RL, Molenaars M, Kamble R, Gao AW, Jongejan A, Weeghel MV, MacInnes AW, Houtkooper RH
PLoS genetics 2019 15(3):e1007633

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 30845140
PubMed Central
PMC6424468
DOI
10.1371/journal.pgen.1007633
Funding
Support included European Research Council, ZonMw, E-Rare-2 and a FEBS fellowship.
Competing interests
No dedicated competing-interest declaration was identified in the retrieved full text; absence of a statement is not evidence of no conflicts.

Study snapshot

DesignControlled animal intervention with mechanistic experiments
ModelCaenorhabditis elegans; wild-type and metabolic mutants
SampleMultiple worm survival experiments and genetic strains; n varies by experiment
InterventionGlycine supplementation with methionine-cycle gene perturbations; serine comparisons
DurationAdult-life worm experiments
EndpointsLifespan; Gene expression; Methionine-cycle dependence

What the study showed, in plain terms

Glycine extended lifespan in C. elegans under the tested conditions, with effects dependent on methionine-cycle genes. It supports a mechanism hypothesis rather than a human anti-aging claim.

Key findings

  • Mutations in metr-1 or sams-1 abolished the glycine-associated extension.
  • Early adult exposure was important in the experiments.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Worms, culture conditions and nutrient handling differ markedly from humans.

A mechanistic genetic requirement does not identify an effective or safe human dose.

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Mechanisms of amino acid-mediated lifespan extension in Caenorhabditis elegans
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Editorial review

Reviewed by the Biohack Blueprint research team

Last verified

Dr. Khaled Mahmoud, MBBChCritical Care Medicine, Longevity Science & Editorial Direction