Recent advances have suggested the existence of phylogenetically conserved pathways regulating ageing in eukaryotes. At least two of these "public" longevity-determining pathways appear to have been evolutionarily conserved from yeast through mammals. We have developed a high-throughput, genome-wide approach to identify a large fraction of the non-essential, single-gene deletion mutations that confer increased longevity in yeast. The identification and characterization of conserved genes that regulate the ageing process across eukaryotic species is likely to result in an improved understanding of the causes of human ageing and provide potential therapeutic targets for drug discovery.