37 They found that at least 40 glutamine repeats were required for efficient aggregation in young (day 2 of adulthood) worms. Interestingly, the threshold number of repeats needed for efficient aggregation declined with age. In worms expressing the polyQ35-YFP chimera, aggregates were visible by day 4 of adulthood, while polyQ29-YFP aggregates were not detectable earlier than day 9 of adulthood. These findings linked the polyQ aggregation to the animal’s chronological age. The direct link between the aging process and polyQ aggregation has been shown

by the discovery that RNAi-mediated IIS reduction protected worm embryos Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical from polyQ82-YFP aggregation in a DAF-16-dependent manner. IIS

reduction also mitigated the toxic effect of polyQ aggregation as measured by following Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the worms’ motility.37 This study indicated that slowing aging by reducing the activity of the IIS can alleviate the toxic effects of selleck screening library protein aggregation and suggested that aging is a key player in exposing the aged organism to proteotoxicity and disease. In order to Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical test whether IIS reduction can protect worms from the aggregation of neurodegeneration-linked peptides other than polyQ and to explore the underlying molecular mechanism we employed worms that express the human Aβ in their body-wall muscles (Aβ worms38). Aβ aggregation in the muscles of these animals leads to progressive paralysis of the worm population. Following this phenotype we found that IIS reduction by daf-2 RNAi also protects worms from the toxic effect associated with Aβ aggregation

in a DAF-16 and HSF-1-dependent Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical manner. Surprisingly we found that these transcription factors mediate opposing activities; HSF-1 promotes disaggregation, while DAF-16 facilitates protective active aggregation.39 The counter-proteotoxic effects of IIS reduction were recently extended to additional aggregative-prone, neurodegeneration-linked proteins and to worm neurons. TDP-43 is an aggregative-prone protein that Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical when carrying specific mutations is linked to almost the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).40 To test the possibility that IIS reduction alleviates the toxic effects of aggregative TDP-43 that carries disease-linked mutation, Zhang and colleagues created worms that express either wild-type fluorescently-tagged TDP-43 or the disease-linked, C terminal domain of the protein under the regulation of a pan-neuronal promoter. They found that IIS reduction by daf-2 RNAi treatment protected the worms from TDP-43-associated motility impairments in a DAF-16 and HSF-1-dependent manner.41 Interestingly, TDP-1, the TDP-43 orthologue in C. elegans, was recently identified as a DAF-16 target and found to be involved in the regulation of lifespan.42 Mutations in SOD-1 have been also linked to the emergence of familial ALS.