Project description:In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, deletion of genes encoding proteins of the large ribosomal subunit (RPLs) increases the replicative lifespan in a Gcn4-dependent manner. However, how Gcn4, a key transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthesis genes, increases lifespan, is unknown. Here we show that Gcn4 acts as a repressor of protein synthesis. By analyzing the mRNA and protein abundance, the ribosome occupancy and protein synthesis rate in various yeast strains, we demonstrate that Gcn4 is sufficient to reduce protein synthesis and to increase yeast lifespan. Chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals Gcn4 binding not only at genes that are activated, but also at genes that are repressed upon Gcn4 overexpression. The promoters of repressed genes contain Rap1 binding motifs. Our data suggest that Gcn4 is a central regulator of protein synthesis under multiple perturbations - including ribosomal protein (RP) gene deletions, calorie restriction, rapamycin treatment - and provide an explanation for its role in longevity and stress response. This SuperSeries is composed of the SubSeries listed below.
Project description:In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, deletion of genes encoding proteins of the large ribosomal subunit (RPLs) increases the replicative lifespan in a Gcn4-dependent manner. However, how Gcn4, a key transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthesis genes, increases lifespan, is unknown. Here we show that Gcn4 acts as a repressor of protein synthesis. By analyzing the mRNA and protein abundance, the ribosome occupancy and protein synthesis rate in various yeast strains, we demonstrate that Gcn4 is sufficient to reduce protein synthesis and to increase yeast lifespan. Chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals Gcn4 binding not only at genes that are activated, but also at genes that are repressed upon Gcn4 overexpression. The promoters of repressed genes contain Rap1 binding motifs. Our data suggest that Gcn4 is a central regulator of protein synthesis under multiple perturbations - including ribosomal protein (RP) gene deletions, calorie restriction, rapamycin treatment - and provide an explanation for its role in longevity and stress response.
Project description:In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, deletion of genes encoding proteins of the large ribosomal subunit (RPLs) increases the replicative lifespan in a Gcn4-dependent manner. However, how Gcn4, a key transcriptional activator of amino acid biosynthesis genes, increases lifespan, is unknown. Here we show that Gcn4 acts as a repressor of protein synthesis. By analyzing the mRNA and protein abundance, the ribosome occupancy and protein synthesis rate in various yeast strains, we demonstrate that Gcn4 is sufficient to reduce protein synthesis and to increase yeast lifespan. Chromatin immunoprecipitation reveals Gcn4 binding not only at genes that are activated, but also at genes that are repressed upon Gcn4 overexpression. The promoters of repressed genes contain Rap1 binding motifs. Our data suggest that Gcn4 is a central regulator of protein synthesis under multiple perturbations - including ribosomal protein (RP) gene deletions, calorie restriction, rapamycin treatment - and provide an explanation for its role in longevity and stress response.
Project description:Deletion of several ribosomal proteins genes (RPKOs) has been shown to extend the lifespan of Saccharomyces cerevisiae in a Gcn4-dependent manner. To characterize the underlying mechanisms, we systematically analyzed the gene expression of both short- and long-lived RPKO strains at multiple levels. We found that up-regulation of amino acid biosynthesis and global down-regulation of protein synthesis are hallmarks of long-lived strains. We provide direct evidence that gene expression changes observed in long-lived strains result from translational up-regulation of GCN4 mRNA via skipping of upstream open reading frames (uORFs), in turn due to slow/defective ribosome assembly. We further demonstrate that Gcn4 acts as a transcriptional repressor on promoters of translation-related genes, thereby globally reducing protein synthesis. Our data suggest that the Gcn4-dependent increase in lifespan can be attributed partially to its ability to dampen the translation capacity of the cell, thereby engaging a well known mechanism of longevity.
Project description:Aneuploidy and aging are correlated; however, a causal link between these two phenomena has remained elusive. Here we show that yeast disomic for a single native yeast chromosome generally have a decreased replicative lifespan. In addition, the extent of this lifespan deficit correlates with the size of the extra chromosome. We identified a mutation in BUL1 that rescues both the lifespan deficit and a protein trafficking defect in yeast disomic for chromosome 5. Bul1 is an E4 ubiquitin ligase adaptor involved in a protein quality-control pathway that targets membrane proteins for endocytosis and destruction in the lysosomal vacuole thereby maintaining protein homeostasis. Concurrent suppression of the aging and trafficking phenotypes suggests that disrupted membrane protein homeostasis in aneuploid yeast may contribute to their accelerated aging. The data reported here demonstrate that aneuploidy can impair protein homeostasis, shorten lifespan, and may contribute to age-associated phenotypes.
Project description:We have shown that multiple tRNA synthetase inhibitors can increase lifespan in both the nematode C. elegans and the budding yeast S. cerevisiae by acting through the conserved transcription factor Gcn4 (yeast) / ATF-4 (worms). To further understand the biology downstream of this conserved transcription factor in the yeast model system, we looked at two different yeast models known to have both upregulated Gcn4, and GCN4-dependent increased replicative lifespan. These two models are rpl31aΔ yeast, and yeast treated with the tRNA synthetase inhibitor borrelidin. We used both proteomic and RNAseq analysis of a block experimental design that included both of these models, to identify GCN4-dependent changes in these two longlived strains of yeast. Proteomic analysis of these yeast indicate that the longlived yeast have increased abundance of proteins involved in amino acid biosynthesis. RNASeq of these same yeast uncovered further regulation of protein turnover, identifying the differential expression of genes associated with both autophagy and with the ubiquitin proteasome system. The data presented here further underscore the important role that GCN4 and its orthologs play in the maintenance of protein homeostasis, which is itself an important hallmark of aging. Importantly, these changes could also have wider-ranging implications in the understanding and treatment of diseases of aging characterized by protein aggregation.
Project description:Hydrogen sulfide (H2S), a traditionally known cytotoxic gas, has been recently included in the gasotransmitters family. Previous studies demonstrated that lifelong treatment with a slow H2S releasing donor extends yeast chronological lifespan (CLS), but it is not clear when the action of H2S benefits to CLS during yeast growth. Therefore, we investigated the effects of short H2S treatments at different time during yeast cell growth in the lifespan extension by using NaHS, a fast H2S-releasing donor. We show that short NaHS treatments at 4 days after inoculation extend yeast CLS while NaHS treatments earlier than 3 days after inoculation fail to do so. To reveal the mechanism of different consequences on yeast CLS of NaHS treatments at different times, we analyzed the transcriptome of Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain BY4742 with or without the early and late NaHS treatments. We found that the early and late NaHS treatments had similar effects on the expression of genes involved in pathways which are related to CLS regulation. Follow up qPCR and ROS analyses suggest that altered expression of some antioxidant genes by the early NaHS treatments were not stable enough to benefit CLS. Moreover, transcriptome data also indicated that some genes were regulated differently by the early and late H2S treatment such as genes involved in cell wall integrity. Specifically, we found that the expression of YPK2, a human SGK2 homolog and also a key regulator of the yeast cell wall synthesis, was significantly altered by the late NaHS treatment but not altered by the early NaHS treatment. Finally, the key role of YPK2 in CLS regulation by H2S is revealed by CLS data showing that the late NaHS treatment did not enhance the CLS of a ypk2 knockout mutant. This study sheds light on the molecular mechanism of CLS extension induced by H2S, and for the first time addresses the importance of H2S treatment timing for lifespan extension.