Dietary and microbiome factors determine longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans

Diet composition affects organismal health. Nutrient uptake depends on the microbiome. Caenorhabditis elegans fed a Bacillus subtilis diet live longer than those fed the standard Escherichia coli diet. Here we report that this longevity difference is primarily caused by dietary coQ, an antioxidant synthesized by E. coli but not by B. subtilis. CoQ‐supplemented E. coli fed worms have a lower oxidation state yet live shorter than coQ‐less B. subtilis fed worms. We showed that mutations affecting longevity for E. coli fed worms do not always lead to similar effects when worms are fed B. subtilis. We propose that coQ supplementation by the E. coli diet alters the worm cellular REDOX homeostasis, thus decreasing longevity. Our results highlight the importance of microbiome factors in longevity, argue that antioxidant supplementation can be detrimental, and suggest that the C. elegans standard E. coli diet can alter the effect of signaling pathways on longevity.This work was supported by grants to FM from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (SAF2011-30518, SAF2014-59716-R, and RD12/0036/0065 from Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofunded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional of the European Union), and European Community’s 7th Framework Programme (HEALTH-F2-2011-256986, PANACREAS). AS-B was supported by the CSIC JAEDoc program and by the Stanford Center on Longevity. The Grupo de Investigación en Polifenoles was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BFU2012-35228).Peer reviewe

Cognitive decline in neuronal aging and Alzheimer's disease: Role of NMDA receptors and associated proteins

Molecular changes associated with neuronal aging lead to a decrease in cognitive capacity. Here we discuss these alterations at the level of brain regions, brain cells, and brain membrane and cytoskeletal proteins with an special focus in NMDA molecular changes through aging and its effect in cognitive decline and Alzheimer disease. Here, we propose that some neurodegenerative disorders, like Alzheimer's disease (AD), are characterized by an increase and acceleration of some of these changes.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [SAF-2014-53,040-P (JA); BFU2016-77885-P (FH)] and the Centro de Investigasción Biomédica en Red sobre Enfermedades Neurodegeneritivas (CIBERNED, ISCIII) (JA)Peer Reviewe

Caenorhabditis elegans as a platform to study the mechanism of action of synthetic antitumor lipids

Drugs capable of specifically recognizing and killing cancer cells while sparing healthy cells are of great interest in anti-cancer therapy. An example of such a drug is edelfosine, the prototype molecule of a family of synthetic lipids collectively known as antitumor lipids (ATLs). A better understanding of the selectivity and the mechanism of action of these compounds would lead to better anticancer treatments. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we modeled key features of the ATL selectivity against cancer cells. Edelfosine induced a selective and direct killing action on C. elegans embryos, which was dependent on cholesterol, without affecting adult worms and larvae. Distinct ATLs ranked differently in their embryonic lethal effect with edelfosine > perifosine > erucylphosphocholine >> miltefosine. Following a biased screening of 57 C. elegans mutants we found that inactivation of components of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling pathway led to resistance against the ATL edelfosine in both C. elegans and human tumor cells. This paper shows that C. elegans can be used as a rapid platform to facilitate ATL research and to further understand the mechanism of action of edelfosine and other synthetic ATLs.This work was supported by grants from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2011–30518), Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (RD12/0036/0065, Red Temática de Investigación Cooperativa en Cáncer, Instituto de Salud Carlos III, cofunded by the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional of the European Union), European Community’s Seventh Framework Program FP7-2007-2013 (grant HEALTH-F2–2011–256986, PANACREAS), and Junta de Castilla y León (CSI052A11–2). ASB was supported by the CSIC JAE-Doc program.Peer Reviewe

Bi-directional genetic modulation of GSK-3β exacerbates hippocampal neuropathology in experimental status epilepticus

14 p.-5 fig.Glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK-3) is ubiquitously expressed throughout the brain and involved in vital molecular pathways such as cell survival and synaptic reorganization and has emerged as a potential drug target for brain diseases. A causal role for GSK-3, in particular the brain-enriched GSK-3β isoform, has been demonstrated in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's, and in psychiatric diseases. Recent studies have also linked GSK-3 dysregulation to neuropathological outcomes in epilepsy. To date, however, there has been no genetic evidence for the involvement of GSK-3 in seizure-induced pathology. Status epilepticus (prolonged, damaging seizure) was induced via a microinjection of kainic acid into the amygdala of mice. Studies were conducted using two transgenic mouse lines: a neuron-specific GSK-3β overexpression and a neuron-specific dominant-negative GSK-3β (GSK-3β-DN) expression in order to determine the effects of increased or decreased GSK-3β activity, respectively, on seizures and attendant pathological changes in the hippocampus. GSK-3 inhibitors were also employed to support the genetic approach. Status epilepticus resulted in a spatiotemporal regulation of GSK-3 expression and activity in the hippocampus, with decreased GSK-3 activity evident in non-damaged hippocampal areas. Consistent with this, overexpression of GSK-3β exacerbated status epilepticus-induced neurodegeneration in mice. Surprisingly, decreasing GSK-3 activity, either via overexpression of GSK-3β-DN or through the use of specific GSK-3 inhibitors, also exacerbated hippocampal damage and increased seizure severity during status epilepticus. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that the brain has limited tolerance for modulation of GSK-3 activity in the setting of epileptic brain injury. These findings caution against targeting GSK-3 as a treatment strategy for epilepsy or other neurologic disorders where neuronal hyperexcitability is an underlying pathomechanism.This work was supported by funding from the Sixth Framework Programme (MIRG-CT-2004-014567, to D.C.H.) a IRCSET-Marie Curie International Mobility Fellowship, the Health Research Board (PD/2009/31 to T.E. and HRA_POR/ 2011/41 to D.C.H.); Science Foundation Ireland (13/SIRG/2098 and 17/CDA/ 4708 to T.E. and 16/RC/3948 to D.C.H.) and co-funded under the European Regional Development Fund and by FutureNeuro industry partners;); from the H2020 Marie Skłowdowksa-Curie Actions Individual Fellowship (753527 to E.B.); from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklowdowska-Cuire grant agreement (No. 766124 to T.E.); grants from Ministerio de Economía Industria y Competitividad of Spain SAF2009-08233 and SAF2015-65371-R to J.J.L., SAF2016-78603-R to M.M. and BFU2016-77885-P to F.H.; grant PI2015-2/06-3 from CIBERNED-ISCIII to J.J.L.; and institutional grants to CBMSO from Fundación Ramón Areces and Fundación Banco de Santander.Peer reviewe