Assessing organismal aging in the filamentous fungus Podospora anserina

Abstract

Podospora anserina is an extensively studied model organism to unravel the mechanism of organismal aging. This filamentous fungus is short-lived and accessible to experimentation. Aging and lifespan are controlled by genetic and environmental traits and, in this model, have a strong mitochondrial etiology. Here, we describe methods and protocols to manipulate and study the aging process in P. anserina at different levels including biochemistry, cell biology, genetics, and physiology. © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2013.