Aging in Caenorhabditis elegans; the role of Wnt signalling

Aging is a universal biological process, broadly characterized by the gradual decline of a multitude of physiological functions, ultimately resulting in organismal death. Wnt signaling is a major and highly conserved developmental pathway that guides many important events during organismal development. These effects are accomplished through highly complicated cell-to-cell interactions initiated by Wnt secreted ligands and culminating with the activation of the transcription factor β-catenin, the major effector of this signaling cascade. In adulthood, misregulation of Wnt signaling has been implicated in tumorigenesis and various age-related diseases. Despite that its function during development is well studied, very little is known about the possible role of Wnt signaling in natural aging. This study addresses the role of Wnt signaling in this process using Caenorhabditis elegans as model organism. This thesis concludes by presenting an alternative method to perform RNA interference (RNAi) by feeding in C. elegans.