Experiments with T. aceti have been performed to understand the cause of aging. DNA damage accumulates when the rate of DNA damage occurrence exceeds the rate of DNA repair. Accumulation of DNA damage leads to a decline in gene expression. Targovnick et al.[3] measured the capacity of young and old T. aceti to carry out excision repair of DNA damages after UV irradiation. They found a consistent decline in DNA excision repair capacity with age in the nematode. A second report by Targovnick et al.[4] also measured the ability to excise thymine glycol (a type of oxidative DNA damage) in young and old nematodes after exposure to ionizing radiation. They observed that the old nematodes were strikingly less able to carry out this type of DNA repair than young nematodes. These experiments suggest that a decline in DNA repair capability and consequent increase in unrepaired DNA damage occurs with age and are consistent with the DNA damage theory of aging