| Authors |
Correia-Melo, Clara ; Kamrad, Stephan ; Tengölics, Roland ; Messner, Christoph B ; Trebulle, Pauline ; Townsend, StJohn ; Jayasree Varma, Sreejith ; Freiwald, Anja ; Heineike, Benjamin M ; Campbell, Kate ; Herrera-Dominguez, Lucía ; Kaur Aulakh, Simran ; Szyrwiel, Lukasz ; Yu, Jason S.L ; Železniak, Aleksej ; Demichev, Vadim ; Mülleder, Michael ; Papp, Balázs ; Alam, Mohammad Tauqeer ; Ralser, Markus |
| Abstract [eng] |
Metabolism is deeply intertwined with aging. Effects of metabolic interventions on aging have been explained with intracellular metabolism, growth control, and signaling. Studying chronological aging in yeast, we reveal a so far overlooked metabolic property that influences aging via the exchange of metabolites. We observed that metabolites exported by young cells are re-imported by chronologically aging cells, resulting in cross-generational metabolic interactions. Then, we used self-establishing metabolically cooperating communities (SeMeCo) as a tool to increase metabolite exchange and observed significant lifespan extensions. The longevity of the SeMeCo was attributable to metabolic reconfigurations in methionine consumer cells. These obtained a more glycolytic metabolism and increased the export of protective metabolites that in turn extended the lifespan of cells that supplied them with methionine. Our results establish metabolite exchange interactions as a determinant of cellular aging and show that metabolically cooperating cells can shape the metabolic environment to extend their lifespan. |
