The planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway is highly conserved from Drosophila to humans and a PCP-like pathway has recently been described in C. elegans [1-3]. The developmental function of this pathway is to mediate the coordinated orientation of cells or structures within the plane of an epithelium or to regulate the organization of cell-cell intercalation that is required for correct morphogenesis [4, 5]. Here, we describe a novel role of VANG-1, the only ortholog of Strabismus/Van Gogh in C. elegans. We show that two alleles of
vang-1 and depletion of the protein by RNAi cause an increase of mean life span up to 40%. In addition,
vang-1 shows enhanced resistance to thermal-, oxidative-stress and decreased lipofuscin accumulation. Life span extension in
vang-1 depends on the insulin/IGF-1 like receptor DAF-2 and DAF-16/Foxo transcription factor. In addition to the modulation of life span, we also observed an extension of reproductive span but a decreased number of progeny, suggesting that VANG-1 links these crucial processes during nematode development. 1.Green, J., Inoue, T., and Sternberg, P. (2008). Opposing Wnt pathways orient cell polarity during organogenesis. Cell 134, 646-656. 2.Wu, M., and Herman, M.A. (2006). A novel noncanonical Wnt pathway is involved in the regulation of the asymmetric B cell division in C. elegans. Dev Biol 293, 316-329. 3.Hoffmann, M., Segbert, C., Helbig, G., and Bossinger, O. (2009). Intestinal tube formation in Caenorhabditis elegans requires
vang-1 and
egl-15 signaling. Dev Biol. 4.Wang, Y., and Nathans, J. (2007). Tissue/planar cell polarity in vertebrates: new insights and new questions. Development 134, 647-658. 5.Wu, J., and Mlodzik, M. (2009). A quest for the mechanism regulating global planar cell polarity of tissues. Trends Cell Biol 19, 295-305.