C. elegans Depend on daf-12/daf-16 Zhang Zhaokang zhang_zk2017@mails.ccnu.edu.cn 1 Zhou Yannan 18872246351zoe@mails.ccnu.edu.cn 1 Fan Haitao 13581896605@163.com 2 Billy Kirunda John billykirunda@yahoo.com 1 Zhao Yunjie yjzhaowh@mail.ccnu.edu.cn 1 Zhan Xuan zhanxuan@mail.ccnu.edu.cn 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2363-9168 Yang Lijian janeyang@mail.ccnu.edu.cn 1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2818-9074 Jia Ya jiay@mail.ccnu.edu.cn 1 Lee Myon-Hee 1 Institute of Biophysics and Department of Physics Central China Normal University Wuhan 430079 China ccnu.edu.cn 2 College of Bioengineering Beijing Polytechnic Beijing 100029 China bgy.org.cn 2019 10 9 2019 2019 25 04 2019 04 07 2019 07 08 2019 10 9 2019 2019 Copyright © 2019 Zhaokang Zhang et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. As the global population ages, searching for drugs and functional foods which can slow down the aging process has attracted a number of researchers. In this paper, the Lycium barbarum polysaccharides (LBP) extracted from Lycium barbarum was characterized and the effects of LBP on the aging and health of C. elegans were studied. Results showed that LBP can prolong the lifespan, improve the abilities to withstand environmental stress, enhance reproductive potentials, and maintain muscle integrity of C. elegans . By using genetically mutated C. elegans strains, RNAi gene silencing, and measuring the mRNA expression level, it was demonstrated that the lifespan of C. elegans was extended by LBP mainly through sir-2.1 , daf-12 , and daf-16 . The present study might provide a basis for further study of LBP as a food or drug to interfere with aging and reduce the incidence of age-related diseases. CCNU CCNU18QN035 CCNU18TS032 Thousand Talents Plan 31103201603 Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province 2017CFB116 National Natural Science Foundation of China 11704140 11474117 11775091 National Institutes of Health P40 OD010440
