A cytosolic catalase is needed to extend adult lifespan in C. elegans daf-C and clk-1 mutants

• Published in: Nature (London) 1999-05, Vol.399 (6732), p.162-166
• Main Authors: Chalfie, Martin, Taub, James, Lau, Joe F, Ma, Charles, Hahn, Jang Hee, Hoque, Rafaz, Rothblatt, Jonathan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Caenorhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans - enzymology; Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Catalase - genetics; Catalase - physiology; Classical genetics, quantitative genetics, hybrids; Cytosol - enzymology; Food availability; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression; Genes, Helminth; Genetics; Genetics of eukaryotes. Biological and molecular evolution; Helminth Proteins - genetics; Helminth Proteins - physiology; Humanities and Social Sciences; Larvae; letter; Life expectancy; Life span; Longevity - genetics; Longevity - physiology; Molecular Sequence Data; multidisciplinary; Mutation; Oxidative Stress; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - metabolism; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Vertebrata; Worms
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/20208

The dauer larva is an alternative larval stage in Caenorhabditis elegans which allows animals to survive through periods of low food availability. Well-fed worms live for about three weeks, but dauer larvae can live for at least two months without affecting post-dauer lifespan. Mutations in daf-2 and age-1, which produce a dauer constitutive (Daf-C) phenotype, and in clk-1, which are believed to slow metabolism, markedly increase adult lifespan. Here we show that a ctl-1 mutation reduces adult lifespan in otherwise wild-type animals and eliminates the daf-c and clk-1 -mediated extension of adult lifespan. ctl-1 encodes an unusual cytosolic catalase; a second gene, ctl-2, encodes a peroxisomal catalase. ctl-1 messenger RNA is increased in dauer larvae and adults with the daf-c mutations. We suggest that the ctl-1 catalase is needed during periods of starvation, as in the dauer larva, and that its misexpression in daf-c and clk-1 adults extends lifespan. Cytosolic catalase may have evolved to protect nematodes from oxidative damage produced during prolonged dormancy before reproductive maturity, or it may represent a general mechanism for permitting organisms to cope with the metabolic changes that accompany starvation.