Effect of DNA repair on aging of transgenic Drosophila melanogaster: I. mei-41 locus.

Aging appears to be increased by diminished DNA repair. To study this relationship between aging and DNA repair, we measured the life span of Drosophila melanogaster males in the absence of mei-41 excision repair and transgenic flies with 1 or 2 extra copies of the mei-41 wild-type gene. Life span was significantly reduced in the absence of repair and was significantly increased by an extra dose of excision repair. However, these changes in life span with alterations in DNA repair were not large.