That's because the lab worms have a particular version of a gene called NPR-1.

这是因为实验室的线虫有一种特殊的叫做NPR - 1的基因。

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Geneticist Thomas Johnson, now at the University of Colorado, showed that altering a single gene, called age-1, doubled the worms' term of life to one month.

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The worms, whose official genus name is Osedax, are about 1 inch (3 centimeters) long and were discovered on a whale carcass in 2002.

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