Leucine increases chronological lifespan of Saccharomyces cerevisiae by decreasing cell death and increasing Cox2p expression

초록

Leucine is involved in various cellular mechanisms, including protein metabolism, insulin signaling, and longevity control. Previously, we verified LEU2, an leucine auxotroph, cells exhibit significantly increased lifespan, moderately increased reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation, decreased Tor1p expression, significantly increased expression of a cytochrome c oxidase subunit, and decreased cell death. In order to examine the leucine effects, yeast was grown in the presence of additional exogenous leucine supplementation and compared to the cells grown in normal media. Because the phenotypes of LEU2 cells were similar to that of the cells grown in CR condition, we also examined the phenotypes of yeast grown in the presence of exogenous leucine supplementation and CR condition. As the results, we observed decreased cell death and increased CLS by both leucine supplementation and CR. Interestingly, simultaneous treatment of CR and leucine supplementation further increased CLS compared to either CR or leucine supplementation.