Methionine, also known as methionine, is one of the essential amino acids of the human body, and is abundant in foods such as beans, meat products, dairy products, and sesame seeds.
Previous studies have shown that long-term methionine restriction (METR) can extend the lifespan of many model organisms, including fruit flies and mice. However, it is unclear whether short-term metr, especially in early adulthood, affects the lifespan of organisms.
Previously, scientists from the Department of Surgery of the University of California and the Department of Medical Oncology of Showa University School of Medicine in Japan published a paper titled "Old-age-induced obesity reversed by a methionine-deficient diet or oral administration of recombinant methioninase-producing" in the journal aging escherichia coli in c57bl 6 mice", which found that a low-methionine diet reversed obesity caused by aging (read original).
On December 5, 2023, Professor Masayuki Miura's team from the University of Tokyo, Japan, published a paper entitled "Early-adult methionine restriction reduces methionine sulfoxide and extends lifespan in drosophila" in the journal Nature Communications The study found that early methionine-restricted diets from adulthood significantly prolonged lifespan.
The researchers first tested whether the metr could increase lifespan under laboratory conditions and found that the median lifespan of flies in the metr group increased by 34 compared to the control group5%, and similar results were found in another strain.
The researchers then quantified the effects of metr on the fertility and response to stressors in the flies, and found that metr reduced the number of ovulations in the flies, but increased resistance to starvation and oxidants.
Next, the researchers looked at whether short-term metr in early or late adulthood affected lifespan and found that female flies were able to prolong lifespan with just four weeks of metr diet in early adulthood, and the effect was almost as effective as lifetime metr. Interestingly, early metr significantly increased the lifespan of Drosophila compared to the control group on a non-restricted diet, while late metr did not.
Recent studies have shown that methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MSRA) plays an important role in the process of metr-induced longevity extension, and metr-induced longevity is also lost when MSRA function is lost.
In conclusion, the study identified that METR in early adulthood can prolong lifespan by continuously inducing the metr-specific response gene methionine sulfoxide reductase A (MSRA), and the study also revealed the key time window and mechanism by which specific amino acid restriction achieves longevity.
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