Low caloric intake (caloric restriction) can lengthen the life span of a wide range of animals and possibly even of humans. To understand better how caloric restriction lengthens life span, we used genetic methods and criteria to investigate its mechanism of action in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Mutations in many genes (eat genes) result in partial starvation of the worm by disrupting the function of the pharynx, the feeding organ. We found that most eat mutations significantly lengthen life span (by up to 50%). In C. elegans, mutations in a number of other genes that can extend life span have been found. Two genetically distinct mechanisms of life span extension are known: a mechanism involving genes that regulate dauer formation (age-1, daf-2, daf-16, and daf-28) and a mechanism involving genes that affect the rate of development and behavior (clk-1, clk-2, clk-3, and gro-1). We find that the long life of eat-2 mutants does not require the activity of DAF-16 and that eat-2; daf-2 double mutants live even longer than extremely long-lived daf-2 mutants. These findings demonstrate that food restriction lengthens life span by a mechanism distinct from that of dauer-formation mutants. In contrast, we find that food restriction does not further increase the life span of long-lived clk-1 mutants, suggesting that clk-1 and caloric restriction affect similar processes.It was shown more than 50 years ago that reducing the caloric intake (caloric restriction) of rodents can significantly lengthen their mean and maximal life span (1). It subsequently has been shown that caloric restriction (CR) can lengthen the life span of a wide variety of animals (2). Trials have even begun with higher primates; based on preliminary evidence, calorically restricted rhesus monkeys show similar signs of delayed aging to those seen in the calorically restricted rodents (3-7). CR has been best studied in rodents, and it is known that rodents undergoing CR display many physiological changes, including reduced body weight, temperature, blood glucose, and insulin levels (reviewed in refs. 8 and 9). However, it is unclear which of these changes are required for an extended life span (8, 9). Several studies indicate that reducing caloric intake reduces the amount of damage attributable to free radicals (reviewed in refs. 8 and 9). One simple hypothesis to explain how CR extends life span is that CR may reduce basal metabolic rates. Rodents and primates undergoing CR have lowered body temperatures (10-12), an indication of lower metabolic rates. However, studies on the effect of CR on the metabolic rates of various mammals have given equivocal results, with some studies showing no change in oxygen consumption per unit of lean body mass (13,14) and other studies showing a decrease of consumption under CR (15, 16). In spite of uncertainty about how CR affects life span, it remains the only experimental treatment that has been shown repeatedly to significantly prolong the life of vertebrates (8,9,17).On the other hand, it is in Cae...