Key points from article :
Researchers fed fruit flies antibiotics and monitored the activity of genes.
Antibiotics not only extended the lives of the flies but also changed the activity of many of the genes.
It lengthened the fly's lives by about six days, from 57 days for control flies to 63 for the treated ones.
Arvind Kumar Shukla, the lead author of the study says "... In humans, it would be the equivalent of gaining about 20 years of life".
They used advanced genetic techniques to monitor gene activity in the heads of 10, 30, and 45-day old flies.
Only about 30% of the genes may be directly involved in the aging process.
Antibiotics severed many of the links between aging and hallmark gene activity.
Experiments on sleep-wake cycles supported the link between these genes and aging.
Edward Giniger, senior investigator, at NINDS says "... there are some genes that are in fact setting the body's internal clock".
Research by National institute of neurological disorders and stroke published in iScience.
