Mitochondria preconditioning delays aging and associated diseases in C. elegans impacting on key ferroptosis players

ABSTRACT: Excessive iron accumulation or deficiency have detrimental consequences across species, leading to a variety of pathologies in humans. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans severe iron as well as oxygen deprivation induce developmental arrest. Instead, hypoxia preconditioning protects against severe hypoxia-induced neuromuscular damage and sub-lethal levels of iron depletion extend lifespan in C. elegans. The positive health outcomes of applying hypoxia preconditioning are obvious but have low feasible application. Here, we thus assessed the potential beneficial effects of genetic and chemical interventions acting via mild iron instead of oxygen depletion. We show that limiting iron availability through frataxin silencing or the iron chelator bipyridine, similar to hypoxia preconditioning, protect against hypoxia-, age- and proteotoxicityinduced neuromuscular deficits. Mechanistically, our data suggest that the beneficial effects elicited by frataxin silencing are at least in part mediated by counteracting ferroptosis, a form of non-apoptotic cell death specifically mediated by iron-induced lipid peroxidation. These is achieved by impacting on different key players of the ferroptosis machinery and likely via novel, gpx-independent redox systems. We thus point to ferroptosis inhibition as a novel strategy to promote healthy aging.

INSTRUMENT(S): Q Exactive

ORGANISM(S): Caenorhabditis Elegans

TISSUE(S): Whole Body

SUBMITTER: Bernd Thiede  

LAB HEAD: Hilde Loge Nilsen

PROVIDER: PXD040724 | Pride | 2023-04-17

REPOSITORIES: Pride