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N 6 -Methyladenine Progressively Accumulates in Mitochondrial DNA during Aging.
- Source :
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences; Oct2023, Vol. 24 Issue 19, p14858, 19p
- Publication Year :
- 2023
-
Abstract
- N<superscript>6</superscript>-methyladenine (6mA) in the DNA is a conserved epigenetic mark with various cellular, physiological and developmental functions. Although the presence of 6mA was discovered a few years ago in the nuclear genome of distantly related animal taxa and just recently in mammalian mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), accumulating evidence at present seriously questions the presence of N<superscript>6</superscript>-adenine methylation in these genetic systems, attributing it to methodological errors. In this paper, we present a reliable, PCR-based method to determine accurately the relative 6mA levels in the mtDNA of Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster and dogs, and show that these levels gradually increase with age. Furthermore, daf-2(−)-mutant worms, which are defective for insulin/IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor) signaling and live twice as long as the wild type, display a half rate at which 6mA progressively accumulates in the mtDNA as compared to normal values. Together, these results suggest a fundamental role for mtDNA N<superscript>6</superscript>-adenine methylation in aging and reveal an efficient diagnostic technique to determine age using DNA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- MITOCHONDRIAL DNA
SOMATOMEDIN
DROSOPHILA melanogaster
CAENORHABDITIS elegans
AGING
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 16616596
- Volume :
- 24
- Issue :
- 19
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- International Journal of Molecular Sciences
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 172988629
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms241914858