PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Chengfeng Xiao AU - Danna Hull AU - Shuang Qiu AU - Joanna Yeung AU - Jie Zheng AU - Taylor Barwell AU - R Meldrum Robertson AU - Laurent Seroude TI - Expression of heat shock protein 70 is insufficient to extend <em>Drosophila melanogaster</em> longevity AID - 10.1101/753269 DP - 2019 Jan 01 TA - bioRxiv PG - 753269 4099 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/31/753269.short 4100 - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/31/753269.full AB - It has been known for over 20 years that flies with twelve additional copies of the hsp70 gene encoding the 70 kDa heat shock protein lives longer after a non-lethal heat treatment. Since the heat treatment also induces the expression of additional heat shock proteins, the biological effect can be due either to HSP70 acting alone or in combination. This study used the UAS/GAL4 system to determine whether hsp70 is sufficient to affect the longevity and the resistance to thermal, oxidative or metabolic stresses of the whole organism. We observed that HSP70 expression in the nervous system or muscles has no effect on longevity or stress resistance but ubiquitous expression reduces the life span of males. We also observed that the down-regulation of Hsp70 using RNAi did not affect longevity. Two of the seven UAS-hsp70 strains tested did show GAL4-dependent life span extensions. The molecular characterization and preliminary genetic analysis of one of these strains suggests that the synaptic phosphatidylinositol phosphatase Synaptojanin limits the longevity of the fly.