The Study on Life Span of the Nematode, Teratorhabditis palmarum

Life span is the length of time for which a person or an animal lives during which various biological processes regulated by several genetic pathways. A lot of genes have been identified in nematodes whose mutations cause several folds increase in lifespan. It was predominantly found that life span of males of nematode, Teratorhabditis palmarum was shorter than that of females when compared by taking different parameters. It was also observed that isolated females always lived longer than the solitary males. The average life span of male and female in isolated condition of T. palmarumwas found to be greater than that of the mated and singlesex groups of males and females. The isolated male and female life span was found to be 11.4 ± 1.34 and 13.2 ± 2.18 days, respectively and when kept together, it was found to be 9.2 ± 1.91 and 10.65 ± 2.23 days for males and females, respectively. Mating affected the life span of both sexes. Lastly in single-sex groups, there was also reduction in life-span of males.