C. elegans SIR-2.1 Interacts with 14-3-3 Proteins to Activate DAF-16 and Extend Life Span

AbstractDietary restriction (DR) increases life span and improves health in most model systems tested, including non-human primates. In C. elegans, as in other models, DR leads to reprogramming of metabolism, improvements in mitochondrial health, large changes in gene expression, including increase in expression of cytoprotective genes, better proteostasis etc. Understandably, multiple global transcriptional regulators like transcription factors FOXO/DAF-16, FOXA/PHA-4, HSF1/HSF-1 and NRF2/SKN-1 are important for DR longevity. Considering the wide-ranging effects of p53 on organismal biology, we asked whether the C. elegans ortholog, CEP-1 is required for DR-mediated longevity assurance. We employed the widely-used TJ1 strain of cep-1(gk138). We show that cep-1(gk138) suppresses the life span extension of two genetic paradigms of DR, but two non-genetic modes of DR remain unaffected in this strain. We find that in cep-1(gk138), two aspects of DR, increased autophagy and the up-regulation of expression of cytoprotective xenobiotic detoxification program (cXDP) genes are dampened. Importantly, we find that background mutation(s) in the strain may be the actual cause for the phenotypic differences that we observed and cep-1 may not be directly involved in genetic DR-mediated longevity assurance in worms. Identifying these mutation(s) may reveal a novel regulator of longevity required specifically by genetic modes of DR.

Download Full-text

Lack of Peroxisomal Catalase Causes a Progeric Phenotype inCaenorhabditis elegans

Journal of Biological Chemistry ◽

10.1074/jbc.m400207200 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 279 (19) ◽

pp. 19996-20001 ◽

Cited By ~ 85

Author(s):

Oleh I. Petriv ◽

Richard A. Rachubinski

Keyword(s):

Life Span ◽

Aging Process ◽

Target Genes ◽

Egg Laying ◽

C Elegans ◽

Extend Life Span ◽

Genes Encoding ◽

Shorten Life Span ◽

Development And Aging ◽

Genetic Mutants

Studies using the nematodeCaenorhabditis elegansas a model system to investigate the aging process have implicated the insulin/insulin-like growth factor-I signaling pathway in the regulation of organismal longevity through its action on a subset of target genes. These targets can be classified into genes that shorten or extend life-span upon their induction. Genes that shorten life-span include a variety of stress response genes, among them genes encoding catalases; however, no evidence directly implicates catalases in the aging process of nematodes or other organisms. Using genetic mutants, we show that lack of peroxisomal catalase CTL-2 causes a progeric phenotype inC. elegans. Lack of peroxisomal catalase also affects the developmental program ofC. elegans, since Δctl-2mutants exhibit decreased egg laying capacity. In contrast, lack of cytosolic catalase CTL-1 has no effect on either nematode aging or egg laying capacity. The Δctl-2mutation also shortens the maximum life-span of the long lived Δclk-1mutant and accelerates the onset of its egg laying period. The more rapid aging of Δctl-2worms is apparently not due to increased carbonylation of the majorC. elegansproteins, although altered peroxisome morphology in the Δctl-2mutant suggests that changes in peroxisomal function, including increased production of reactive oxygen species, underlie the progeric phenotype of the Δctl-2mutant. Our findings support an important role for peroxisomal catalase in both the development and aging ofC. elegansand suggest the utility of the Δctl-2mutant as a convenient model for the study of aging and the human diseases acatalasemia and hypocatalasemia.

Download Full-text

The genetic paradigms of dietary restriction fail to extend life span in cep-1(gk138) mutant of C. elegans p53 due to possible background mutations

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0241478 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (11) ◽

pp. e0241478

Author(s):

Anita Goyala ◽

Aiswarya Baruah ◽

Arnab Mukhopadhyay

Keyword(s):

Life Span ◽

Dietary Restriction ◽

Transcriptional Regulators ◽

Model Systems ◽

Life Span Extension ◽

Phenotypic Differences ◽

C Elegans ◽

Xenobiotic Detoxification ◽

Organismal Biology ◽

Extend Life Span

Dietary restriction (DR) increases life span and improves health in most model systems tested, including non-human primates. In C. elegans, as in other models, DR leads to reprogramming of metabolism, improvements in mitochondrial health, large changes in expression of cytoprotective genes and better proteostasis. Understandably, multiple global transcriptional regulators like transcription factors FOXO/DAF-16, FOXA/PHA-4, HSF1/HSF-1 and NRF2/SKN-1 are important for DR longevity. Considering the wide-ranging effects of p53 on organismal biology, we asked whether the C. elegans ortholog, CEP-1 is required for DR-mediated longevity assurance. We employed the widely-used TJ1 strain of cep-1(gk138). We show that cep-1(gk138) suppresses the life span extension of two genetic paradigms of DR, but two non-genetic modes of DR remain unaffected in this strain. We find that two aspects of DR, increased autophagy and up-regulation of the expression of cytoprotective xenobiotic detoxification program (cXDP) genes, are dampened in cep-1(gk138). Importantly, we find that background mutation(s) in the strain may be the actual cause for the phenotypic differences that we observed and cep-1 may not be directly involved in genetic DR-mediated longevity assurance in worms. Identifying these mutation(s) may reveal a novel regulator of longevity required specifically by genetic modes of DR.

Download Full-text