Glycogen controls Caenorhabditis elegans lifespan and resistance to oxidative stress

Ivan Gusarov, Bibhusita Pani, Laurent Gautier, Olga Smolentseva, Svetlana Eremina, Ilya Shamovsky, Olga Katkova-Zhukotskaya, Alexander Mironov and Evgeny Nudler ()
Additional contact information
Ivan Gusarov: New York University School of Medicine
Bibhusita Pani: New York University School of Medicine
Laurent Gautier: New York University School of Medicine
Olga Smolentseva: New York University School of Medicine
Svetlana Eremina: Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Science
Ilya Shamovsky: New York University School of Medicine
Olga Katkova-Zhukotskaya: Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Science
Alexander Mironov: Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Science
Evgeny Nudler: New York University School of Medicine

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: Abstract A high-sugar diet has been associated with reduced lifespan in organisms ranging from worms to mammals. However, the mechanisms underlying the harmful effects of glucose are poorly understood. Here we establish a causative relationship between endogenous glucose storage in the form of glycogen, resistance to oxidative stress and organismal aging in Caenorhabditis elegans. We find that glycogen accumulated on high dietary glucose limits C. elegans longevity. Glucose released from glycogen and used for NADPH/glutathione reduction renders nematodes and human hepatocytes more resistant against oxidative stress. Exposure to low levels of oxidants or genetic inhibition of glycogen synthase depletes glycogen stores and extends the lifespan of animals fed a high glucose diet in an AMPK-dependent manner. Moreover, glycogen interferes with low insulin signalling and accelerates aging of long-lived daf-2 worms fed a high glucose diet. Considering its extensive evolutionary conservation, our results suggest that glycogen metabolism might also have a role in mammalian aging.

Date: 2017
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms15868 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:8:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms15868

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15868

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().