Nat commun: key protein found to delay aging and prolong life

February 21, 2019 news / BIOON / - autophagy is an important biological cycle mechanism for all animal tissues to maintain homeostasis Many studies try to reveal the relationship between the decrease of autophagy level and the aging of animals, but so far there is no clear answer Photo source: Nat commun in 2009, a team led by Tamotsu yoshimori from Osaka University found that Rubicon protein, as a protein factor, can inhibit autophagy by controlling a special step in the autophagy process This time, the research team found that the expression level of Rubicon protein in worms, flies and mice will increase in an age-related way, and the relevant research results were recently published in nature communications Autophagy can help to degrade damaged organelles and avoid a series of diseases related to cell pressure and disorders, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic syndrome Recent studies have found that the decline of autophagy level is related to the aging process of animals Although a series of methods can be used to increase the autophagy level of aging animals to delay the aging process, there is no clear reason for the natural decline of autophagy level "We have known that Rubicon protein is related to the inhibition of autophagy, and knockout of Rubicon protein in mice can eliminate autophagy related liver disease." Yoshimori said "So we suspect that Rubicon protein may directly affect aging through its interaction with autophagy." In this study, the researchers found increased levels of Rubicon protein in a variety of aging organisms When the researchers suppressed Rubicon protein expression, all model animals showed higher autophagy levels, which led to the improvement of a variety of aging related factors and extended the life of worms and flies "Our analysis found that inhibition of Rubicon protein led to the alleviation of aging related decline in function and the reduction of fibrosis." Shuhei Nakamura, lead author of the study, said "What's important is that we found that inhibition of Rubicon protein enables aging mice to resist factors that may contribute to Parkinson's disease." This study shows that the increase of Rubicon protein level leads to the decrease of autophagy level in aging animals, and the inhibition of Rubicon protein may be the key to prolong the healthy life of human beings Reference: Shuhei Nakamura et al, supply of automatic activity by Rubicon is a signature of aging, nature communications (2019) Doi: 10.1038/s41467-019-08729