Aging is accompanied by a decline in the healthy function of multiple organ systems, leading
to increased incidence and mortality from diseases such as type II diabetes mellitus,
neurodegenerative diseases, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Historically, researchers
have focused on investigating individual pathways in isolated organs as a strategy to identify
the root cause of a disease, with hopes of designing better drugs. Studies of aging in yeast
led to the discovery of a family of conserved enzymes known as the sirtuins, which affect …