Phycoerythrin extends life span and health span of Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

In the present study, we tested the antioxidant activity of phycoerythrin (PE, an oligomeric light harvesting protein isolated from Lyngbya sp. A09DM) to curtail aging effects in Caenorhabditis elegans. Purified PE (100 μg/ml) dietary supplement was given to C. elegans and investigated for its anti-aging potential. PE treatment improved the mean life span of wild type (N2)-animals from 15±0.1 to 19.9±0.3 days. PE treatment also moderated the decline in aging-associated physiological functions like pharyngeal pumping and locomotion with increasing age of N2 worms. Moreover, PE treatment also enhanced the stress tolerance in 5-day-aged adults with increase in mean survival rate from 22.2±2.5 to 41.6±2.5 % under thermo stress and from 30.1±3.2 to 63.1±6.4 % under oxidative (hydrogen peroxide)-stress. PE treatment was also noted to moderate the heat-induced expression of human amyloid-beta(Aβ 1-42 ) peptide and associated paralysis in the muscle tissues of transgenic C. elegans CL4176 (Alzheimer's disease model). Effectiveness of PE in expanding the life span of mutant C. elegans, knockout for some up (daf-2 and age-1)-and down (daf-16)-stream regulators of insulin/IGF-1 signaling (IIS), shows the independency of PE effect from DAF-2-AGE-1-DAF-16 signaling pathway. Moreover, the inability of PE in expanding the life span of hsf-1 knockout C. elegans(sy441) suggests the dependency of PE effect on heat shock transcription factor (HSF-1) controlling AGE (2014) stress-induced gene expression. In conclusion, our results demonstrated a novel anti-aging activity of PE which conferred increased resistance to cellular stress resulting in improved life span and health span of C. elegans.

Ultraviolet-A triggers photoaging in model nematode Caenorhabditis elegans in a DAF-16 dependent pathway

“…The altered regulation of the major players in this pathway, daf-2, daf-16, and age-1 suggested that the changes in the lifespan of the host was under the influence of the above pathway. The genes daf-2 and age-1 are negative regulators of lifespan whereas daf-16 positively regulates lifespan (Sonani et al 2014). In the present study, as the time of exposure increased, the level of expression of daf-2 and age-1 were also increased; in turn, the expression of daf-16 decreased.…”

“…In the current scenario, extending lifespan without extending health will not fulfill the goal of aging research. Some of the recent studies show that phycoeryhtrin isolated from a marine cyanobacterium (Sonani et al 2014) and cranberry extract (Guha et al 2013) can extend the healthspan of nematode along with extending lifespan. Here, we have used pharyngeal pumping and egg laying ability of C. elegans as the phenotypic readouts to measure healthspan.…”

“…DAF-2 phosphorylates DAF-16 and prevents it from integrating into nucleus and activating the regulatory genes. Knockdown of DAF-2 allows the activation of DAF-16, and these mutants were known for their extended lifespan (Murphy and Hu 2013;Sonani et al 2014). After exposure, wild type worms survived up to 15, 13, and 14 days in liquid and 15, 15, and 10 days in solid media whereas daf-2 mutants survived up to 40, 35, and 30 days in liquid and 42, 38, and 33 days in solid media, after 2, 4, and 6 h of UVexposure, respectively ( Fig.…”

“…Many natural compounds with antioxidants that have anti-aging activity have been successfully tested in this model (Zheng et al 2014;Sonani et al 2014). This microscopic model system is preferred due to its short life cycle and transparent cuticle, which enables to monitor the physiological changes through a microscope.…”

Antioxidant Potential of Phycobiliproteins: Role in Anti-Aging Research

“…Currently, our research group is working on the topic -'Is PBP's antioxidant virtue can be explored to alleviate aging and associated abnormalities?' We have reported that the PE, one of the PBPs having antioxidant nature, efficiently moderates the progression in physiological dysfunctions and molecular mechanism associated with aging in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) [6,40]. PE feeding also confers the better stress tolerance in C. elegans under thermo-as well as oxidative stress [40].…”