AB Aquatic Biology Contact the journal Twitter RSS Mailing List Subscribe to our mailing list via Mailchimp HomeLatest VolumeAbout the JournalEditorsTheme Sections AB 26:49-56 (2017) - DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00673 Effects of rapamycin on life span and on expression of TOR and S6K in Brachionus calyciflorus (Rotifera) Huanhuan Xu, Lulu Liu, Yuqi Su, Ye Liang, Jiaxin Yang* School of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, PR China *Corresponding author: yangjx@njnu.edu.cn ABSTRACT: The mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) coordinates a complex signal pathway from translation to autophagy that is a key regulator of not only growth and proliferation but also metabolism and aging. mTOR is sensitive to many environmental and endocrine stimuli. We investigated the influence of TOR signaling on aging and reproduction of the rotifer Brachionus calyciflorus using rapamycin as an exogenous inhibitor. We found that 2 and 4 µM rapamycin extended B. calyciflorus life span by 15 and 22%, respectively compared with controls (p < 0.05). The reproductive peak was significantly delayed by rapamycin at 2 and 4 µM (p < 0.01), but the pre- and post-reproduction periods were not significantly different from controls (p > 0.05). Partial cDNAs coding 375 bp for TOR and 951 bp for S6 kinase (S6K) were obtained from B. calyciflorus expressed sequence tags. The identities of the deduced amino acid sequences of B. calyciflorus cDNAs to their human orthologs were 58% for TOR and 68% for S6K. TOR and S6K mRNA expression were up- or down-regulated by different rapamycin concentrations (0.5, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 µM) and treatment intervals (control, 12, 24, 36, and 48 h). The results indicated that TOR inhibition acted additively to extend rotifer life span, with up- and down-regulation simultaneously impacting reproduction and gene expression. KEY WORDS: Aging · Life span · mRNA expression levels · Rapamycin · Reproduction · Rotifer Full text in pdf format PreviousNextCite this article as: Xu H, Liu L, Su Y, Liang Y, Yang J (2017) Effects of rapamycin on life span and on expression of TOR and S6K in Brachionus calyciflorus (Rotifera). Aquat Biol 26:49-56. https://doi.org/10.3354/ab00673 Export citation RSS - Facebook - Tweet - linkedIn Cited by Published in AB Vol. 26. Online publication date: May 15, 2017 Print ISSN: 1864-7782; Online ISSN: 1864-7790 Copyright © 2017 Inter-Research.