New research suggests that the human aging process could be slowed down by organelles contained in plant cells, also known as Golgi bodies. Scientists at UC Riverside in California claim to have gained new insights into this. Age-related diseases can also probably be treated.
New approaches in the anti-aging area
UCR researchers Heeseung Choi and Katie Dehesh keep young, green and old, yellow Arabidopsis plants in the laboratory. While they were actually researching how plant cells respond to stress such as infections, too much salt or too little light, they accidentally discovered that organelles and an associated protein control whether the plant can survive in the dark and for how long. An organelle in a plant cell is a specialized structure that performs specific functions within the cell. According to the researchers, the discovery is a big deal. “For the first time, we have defined the profound importance of an organelle in the cell that has not previously been linked to the aging process,” said Katie Dehesh, professor of molecular biochemistry at UCR.
This is how the Golgi bodies work
The Golgi are like the post office of the cell. They package proteins and lipids and send them where they are needed,” says Heeseung Choi, a researcher in UCR’s Department of Botany and Plant Sciences. If the Golgi is the post office, then the COG protein is the post office clerk. This protein controls and coordinates the movement of the small “shells” that transport other molecules in the cell. COG also helps Golgi bodies bind sugar to other proteins or lipids. This glycosylation is particularly important for the immune response.
When the research team modified some plants so that they were unable to produce the COG protein and deprived them of light, they were unable to make sugar from sunlight to grow. When exposed to excessive darkness, the leaves began to mutate and the COG-free plants became yellow, wrinkled and thin – signs that the plants were dying. The mutation was then reversed, the proteins were returned and the plants came back to life.
Drawing conclusions from plants to humans
This discovery is also so exciting because humans, plants and all eukaryotic organisms have Golgi bodies in their cells. Plants can serve as a platform to explore the role of the Golgi in human aging. The research team is therefore planning further studies on molecular mechanisms. “Our research not only advances our knowledge of plant aging, but could also provide crucial clues about aging in humans,” says study co-author and molecular biologist Dehesh. The study was published in the journal Nature Plants.
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