Table 1.

Comparison of the lifespan versus the damaged mtDNA level in C. elegans mutant strains relative to wild type N2 C. elegans.

Strain	Changes in survivorship relative to N2	Changes in mtDNA damage level relative to N2
mpst-1	Decreased	Increased
mev-1	Decreased	Normal
sod-2/sod-3	Normal	Increased
daf-2	Increased	Increased

As expected, mpst-1 has short lifespan and high mtDNA damage level. Surprisingly, short-lived mev-1 mutant animals do not suffer from high level of damaged mtDNA. C. elegans lacking mitochondrial SOD, the sod-2/-3 double mutant animals did not experience reduced lifespan but had significantly higher mtDNA lesions. Unexpectedly, daf-2 long-lived mutants had high mtDNA lesions.