Whole genome RNAi screens for increased longevity: Important new insights but not the whole story

This article discusses the pros and cons of using RNAi screening to identify longevity genes in Caenorhabditis elegans. The discussion will focus on the results of two large-scale longevity RNAi screens that were recently published. The two screens revealed largely non-overlapping sets of candidate longevity genes. The possible reasons for such differences and their implications will be discussed.