Data for: Caloric restriction extends lifespan in a clonal plant

Thus, factors that reduce photosynthesis, such as reduced light intensity, can induce CR. In two lab experiments investigating the aquatic macrophyte Lemna minor, we tracked hundreds of individuals longitudinally, with light intensity – and hence, CR – manipulated using neutral-density filters. In both experiments, CR dramatically increased lifespan through a process of temporal scaling.

Moreover, the magnitude of lifespan extension accorded with the assumptions that (a) light intensity positively relates to photosynthesis following Michaelis-Menten kinetics, and (b) photosynthesis negatively relates to lifespan via a power law. Our results emphasize that CR-mediated lifespan extension applies to autotrophs as well as heterotrophs, and suggest that variation in light intensity has quantitatively predictable effects on plant aging trajectories.