Fig. 1. Growth on stiff substrate results in mild lifespan extension but decrease in organismal health.

(A) N2 wild-type animals grown on empty vector (EV) RNAi bacteria on either control (2%, blue) or stiff (4%, purple) agar plates from L1. Lifespans were scored every 2 days. Data is representative of 3 replicates and statistical analysis is available in Table S1. (B) N2 wild-type animals were grown on EV RNAi bacteria on either 2% or 4% NGM plates from L1. At day 1, 5, and 9 of adulthood, animals were collected in M9 media and video recordings were taken on an M205 stereoscope for 10s. Body bends per 10s were counted by eye for each individual worm. (C) N2 wild-type animals were grown on EV RNAi bacteria on either 2% or 4% agar plates from L1. At the L4 stage, animals were singled out and moved daily. Number of live progenies were counted for each animal with n > 50 per sample. Data is pooled from 3 independent biological replicates with n = 10 per replicate. * = p < 0.05, ** = p < 0.01 through non-parametric Mann-Whitney testing. Lines are median and interquartile range, and each dot represents a single animal where blue dots are animals grown on 2% control plates and purple dots are animals grown on 4% stiff plates.