Press Release
A new role for insulin in cell survival, cell metabolism and stress response
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research have discovered a novel way in which insulin affects cell metabolism and cell survival. Surprisingly the insulin signaling pathway, which is involved in aging, diabetes and stress response, is active at a deeper level of cell activity than scientists expected. The study appears in the September 8th issue of Cell Metabolism.
Insulin is vitally involved in many cell functions. Buck Institute faculty and lead author Gordon Lithgow, PhD, says scientists have known for years that insulin is involved at the level of cell activity called transcription, where DNA produces RNA. Lithgow said the new research, in the nematode worm C. elegans, revealed that insulin is also active at the level known as translation, where RNA specifies protein synthesis.
Lithgow says the discovery of this new level of regulation opens a host of opportunities. "We are desperate to understand why aging is a risk factor for disease, we want to know why diabetes is associated with aging," said Lithgow. "Here we have a insulin signaling pathway involved in aging, diabetes and stress response. This gives us more precise avenues to explore how we might intervene in disease," he said.
Using long-lived mutant worms, researchers demonstrated that increased tolerance to stress, due to lower insulin signaling, is not dependent on stress-induced responses at the level of transcription, but instead requires active protein translation.
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Buck Institute for Age Research: http://www.buckinstitute.org
Researchers at the Buck Institute for Age Research have discovered a novel way in which insulin affects cell metabolism and cell survival. Surprisingly the insulin signaling pathway, which is involved in aging, diabetes and stress response, is active at a deeper level of cell activity than scientists expected. The study appears in the September 8th issue of Cell Metabolism.
Insulin is vitally involved in many cell functions. Buck Institute faculty and lead author Gordon Lithgow, PhD, says scientists have known for years that insulin is involved at the level of cell activity called transcription, where DNA produces RNA. Lithgow said the new research, in the nematode worm C. elegans, revealed that insulin is also active at the level known as translation, where RNA specifies protein synthesis.
Lithgow says the discovery of this new level of regulation opens a host of opportunities. "We are desperate to understand why aging is a risk factor for disease, we want to know why diabetes is associated with aging," said Lithgow. "Here we have a insulin signaling pathway involved in aging, diabetes and stress response. This gives us more precise avenues to explore how we might intervene in disease," he said.
Using long-lived mutant worms, researchers demonstrated that increased tolerance to stress, due to lower insulin signaling, is not dependent on stress-induced responses at the level of transcription, but instead requires active protein translation.
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Buck Institute for Age Research: http://www.buckinstitute.org
Thanks to Buck Institute for Age Research for this article.
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