Reactivation of RNA metabolism underlies somatic restoration after adult reproductive diapause in C. elegans
- University of Washington, United States
Abstract
The mechanisms underlying biological aging are becoming recognized as therapeutic targets to delay the onset of multiple age-related morbidities. Even greater health benefits can potentially be achieved by halting or reversing age-associated changes. C. elegans restore their tissues and normal longevity upon exit from prolonged adult reproductive diapause, but the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain unknown. Here, we focused on the mechanisms controlling recovery from adult diapause. Here, we show that functional improvement of post-mitotic somatic tissues does not require germline signaling, germline stem cells, or replication of nuclear or mitochondrial DNA. Instead a large expansion of the somatic RNA pool is necessary for restoration of youthful function and longevity. Treating animals with the drug 5-fluoro-2'-deoxyuridine prevents this restoration by blocking reactivation of RNA metabolism. These observations define a critical early step during exit from adult reproductive diapause that is required for somatic rejuvenation of an adult metazoan animal.
Data availability
All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files.
Article and author information
Author details
Funding
National Institute on Aging (T32AG000057)
- Nikolay Burnaevskiy
National Institute on Aging (R01AG031108)
- Matt Kaeberlein
National Institute on Aging (R00AG045341)
- Alexander Mendenhall
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2018, Burnaevskiy et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Reactivation of RNA metabolism underlies somatic restoration after adult reproductive diapause in C. elegans
eLife 7:e36194.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.36194
Further reading
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The formation of large endolysosomal structures in unfertilized eggs ensures that lysosomes remain dormant before fertilization, and then shift into clean-up mode after the egg-to-embryo transition.
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