Lifespan can be extended during a specific time window early in life

Lifespan is determined by complex and tangled mechanisms that are largely unknown. The early postnatal stage has been proposed to play a role in lifespan, but its contribution is still controversial. Here, we found that a short rapamycin treatment during early life can prolong lifespan in Mus musculus and Drosophila melanogaster. Notably, the same treatment at later time points has no evident effect on lifespan, suggesting that we found a crucial time-window involved in lifespan modulation. We discovered that sulfotransferases are upregulated during early rapamycin treatment both in newborn mice and Drosophila larvae. Furthermore, overexpression of the sulfotransferase dST1 triggers an increment in the lifespan of Drosophila melanogaster. Our findings unveil a novel link between early-life treatments and long-term effects on lifespan. One Sentence SummaryEarly life events increase lifespan.