TY - JOUR
T1 - Autophagy genes are essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans
AU - Meléndez, Alicia
AU - Tallóczy, Zsolt
AU - Seaman, Matthew
AU - Eskelinen, Eeva Liisa
AU - Hall, David H.
AU - Levine, Beth
PY - 2003/9/5
Y1 - 2003/9/5
N2 - Both dauer formation (a stage of developmental arrest) and adult life-span in Caenorhabditis elegans are negatively regulated by insulin-like signaling, but little is known about cellular pathways that mediate these processes. Autophagy, through the sequestration and delivery of cargo to the lysosomes, is the major route for degrading long-lived proteins and cytoplasmic organelles in eukaryotic cells. Using nematodes with a loss-of-function mutation in the insulin-like signaling pathway, we show that bec-1, the C. elegans ortholog of the yeast and mammalian autophagy gene APG6/VPS30/beclin1, is essential for normal dauer morphogenesis and life-span extension. Dauer formation is associated with increased autophagy and also requires C. elegans orthologs of the yeast autophagy genes APG1, APG7, APG8, and AUT10. Thus, autophagy is a cellular pathway essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans.
AB - Both dauer formation (a stage of developmental arrest) and adult life-span in Caenorhabditis elegans are negatively regulated by insulin-like signaling, but little is known about cellular pathways that mediate these processes. Autophagy, through the sequestration and delivery of cargo to the lysosomes, is the major route for degrading long-lived proteins and cytoplasmic organelles in eukaryotic cells. Using nematodes with a loss-of-function mutation in the insulin-like signaling pathway, we show that bec-1, the C. elegans ortholog of the yeast and mammalian autophagy gene APG6/VPS30/beclin1, is essential for normal dauer morphogenesis and life-span extension. Dauer formation is associated with increased autophagy and also requires C. elegans orthologs of the yeast autophagy genes APG1, APG7, APG8, and AUT10. Thus, autophagy is a cellular pathway essential for dauer development and life-span extension in C. elegans.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.1087782
DO - 10.1126/science.1087782
M3 - Article
C2 - 12958363
AN - SCOPUS:0042691506
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 301
SP - 1387
EP - 1391
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 5638
ER -