High-resolution profiling of stationary-phase survival reveals yeast longevity factors and their genetic interactions.

Lifespan is influenced by a large number of conserved proteins and gene-regulatory pathways. Here, we introduce a strategy for systematically finding such longevity factors in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and scoring the genetic interactions (epistasis) among these factors. Specifically, we developed an automated competition-based assay for chronological lifespan, defined as stationary-phase survival of yeast populations, and used it to phenotype over 5,600 single- or double-gene knockouts at unprecedented quantitative resolution.