Protein Aggregation Increases with Age

Rachel Jones

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000449

Abstract

Protein Aggregation Increases with Age

Highlights

Aggregation (‘‘clumping together’’) of certain cellular proteins is a common feature of a variety of diseases including neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Many of these conditions are more prevalent in old age, but the changes that cause increased aggregation of these disease proteins are not well understood
A new study by Cynthia Kenyon and colleagues shows that aging in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is associated with increased aggregation of a large number of proteins, even in the apparent absence of disease. Many of these proteins are encoded by genes that influence lifespan or aggregation of proteins with repeated polyglutamine sequences, suggesting that an agingassociated increase in protein aggregation might affect both lifespan and neurodegeneration
Protein aggregation is kept in check by regulatory processes that control protein homeostasis, these processes seem to become less efficient with age

Summary

Introduction

Aggregation (‘‘clumping together’’) of certain cellular proteins is a common feature of a variety of diseases including neurodegenerative conditions such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s diseases. Many of these conditions are more prevalent in old age, but the changes that cause increased aggregation of these disease proteins are not well understood. A new study by Cynthia Kenyon and colleagues shows that aging in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is associated with increased aggregation of a large number of proteins, even in the apparent absence of disease.

Results

Conclusion