SELECTION FOR INCREASED LONGEVITY IN DROSOPHILA-MELANOGASTER - A RESPONSE TO BARET AND LINTS

Baret and Lints [Gerontology 1993;39:252-259] have questioned the inte rpretation of artificial selection experiments for increased longevity in Drosophila. They suggest that such experiments cannot demonstrate the genetic determination of longevity, because line differences in me an longevity are confounded with erratic temporal variations in life s pan. Using 15,000 flies from selected and control lines developed by L uckinbill and Glare [Heredity 1985;55:9-19], we show here that when li nes are tested simultaneously in a carefully controlled environment, t hey exhibit markedly different average life spans: selected males live 20 days longer than controls, and selected females live 10 days longe r. These and other observations leave no doubt about the existence of heritable variation influencing longevity in Drosophila.