A press release appeared on the John Hopkins website detailing a new discovery regarding life extension in yeast. The press release can be found here: Starve a yeast, sweeten its lifespan.

To summarize, here’s what happened:

• Yeast produce an enzyme complex called NuA4, which is under investigation for its DNA-repair properties.
• John Hopkins researchers tested whether NuA4’s level of acetylation influenced the lifespan of yeast.
• They genetically engineered two types of yeast: a constantly acetylated one and and constantly de-acetylated one.
• The acetylated yeast variant had a lifespan 20% longer than normal, the de-acetylated had an 80% shorter lifespan.
• They then used a yeast proteome chip to search for targets for NuA4, ultimately identifying an enzyme called Pck1p as being particularly affected by acetylated NuA4.
• Pck1p is also controlled by Sir2, which is also heavily implicated in aging processes.
• Pck1p regulates glucose production, which is what yeast must do under starvation conditions. Partial starvation conditions (i.e., calorie restriction) have of course been shown to extend the lifespan of yeast.
• These results are expected to be highly relevant to human aging studies, as NuA4 is strongly conserved among species, including humans.

The main new thing is apparently the role of Pck1p in gluconeogenesis (glucose-making), which adds another piece to the developing puzzle of aging and the calorie restriction / SIR protein mediated lifespan increases, which is great. I’m looking forward to what else will come out of this line of research…