{Furthermore, a recent study suggests that the expression of certain miRNAs is differentially regulated by starvation-induced dauer diapause (15). Consistent with these ideas, several recent lines of evidence suggest that miRNA let-7 and the heterochronic genes lin-42 and hbl-1 are required to regulate the starvation-induced dauer diapause (10–12) and that a number of miRNAs including lin-4 and mir-71 are involved in regulating life span (13, 14). Furthermore, worms that are long-lived due to dietary restriction or decreased mitochondrial respiratory rates are short-lived during L1 diapause, suggesting that the mechanisms controlling L1 starvation survival are different at least in some aspects from those controlling aging (3).}