Regulation of longevity by neuronal autophagy

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K22429
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 44:Biology at cellular to organismal levels, and related fields
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Nakamura Shuhei 大阪大学, 高等共創研究院, 准教授 (00510611)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-06-28 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: オートファジー / 寿命 / 線虫 / 神経

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Autophagy has received much attention as a master regulator of longevity, but its tissue-specific function in lifespan regulation is unclear. We previously found that activation of autophagy in the C. elegans nervous system leads to effective lifespan extension (Nakamura et al., Nat Commun, 2019), and we attempted to elucidate this mechanism in this study. We identified novel lifespan regulators that act in the nervous system and non-neuronal tissues based on transcriptome analysis of worms with altered autophagy in the nervous system and subsequent RNAi based screening. From the functional characterization of these regulators, we found a novel regulatory mechanism of longevity originating from neuronal autophagy (in preparation).

Free Research Field

細胞生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

細胞内分解システムであるオートファジーは老化や寿命制御において中心的役割を果たすことが明らかになりつつあるが、組織ごとの役割については不明な点が多い。本研究では特定組織のオートファジーの働きが全身の老化や寿命の制御にも関わることを示し、この分子カスケードを初めて明らかにした。本知見を足がかりとしたさらなる解析によりオートファジーならびに老化・寿命研究の両分野の理解に大きく貢献できると考えられる。