Open AccessHeterochromatin Formation Promotes Longevity and Represses Ribosomal RNA Synthesis
Author(s) -
Kimberly Larson,
Shian Jang Yan,
Amy Tsurumi,
Jacqueline Liu,
Jun Zhou,
Kriti Gaur,
Dongdong Guo,
Thomas H. Eickbush,
Willis X. Li
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
plos genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.587
H-Index - 233
eISSN - 1553-7404
pISSN - 1553-7390
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pgen.1002473
Subject(s) - heterochromatin , biology , heterochromatin protein 1 , constitutive heterochromatin , epigenetics , genetics , histone , microbiology and biotechnology , chromatin , dna , gene
Organismal aging is influenced by a multitude of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and heterochromatin loss has been proposed to be one of the causes of aging. However, the role of heterochromatin in animal aging has been controversial. Here we show that heterochromatin formation prolongs lifespan and controls ribosomal RNA synthesis in Drosophila . Animals with decreased heterochromatin levels exhibit a dramatic shortening of lifespan, whereas increasing heterochromatin prolongs lifespan. The changes in lifespan are associated with changes in muscle integrity. Furthermore, we show that heterochromatin levels decrease with normal aging and that heterochromatin formation is essential for silencing rRNA transcription. Loss of epigenetic silencing and loss of stability of the rDNA locus have previously been implicated in aging of yeast. Taken together, these results suggest that epigenetic preservation of genome stability, especially at the rDNA locus, and repression of unnecessary rRNA synthesis, might be an evolutionarily conserved mechanism for prolonging lifespan.