Organisms that protect their germ-cell lineages from damage often do so at considerable cost: limited metabolic resources become partitioned away from maintenance of the soma, leaving the ageing somatic tissues to navigate survival amid an environment containing damaged and poorly functioning proteins. Historically, experimental paradigms that limit reproductive investment result in lifespan extension. We proposed that germline-deficient animals might exhibit heightened protection from proteotoxic stressors in somatic tissues. We find that the forced re-investment of resources from the germ line to the soma in Caenorhabditis elegans results in elevated somatic proteasome activity, clearance of damaged proteins and increased longevity. This activity is associated with increased expression of rpn-6, a subunit of the 19S proteasome, by the FOXO transcription factor DAF-16. Ectopic expression of rpn-6 is sufficient to confer proteotoxic stress resistance and extend lifespan, indicating that rpn-6 is a candidate to correct deficiencies in age-related protein homeostasis disorders.

amyloid formation exacerbated Rnq1 toxicity. These and other data establish that even subtle changes in the folding homeostasis of an amyloidogenic protein can create a severe proteotoxic gain-of-function phenotype and that chaperone-mediated amyloid assembly can be cytoprotective. The possible relevance of these findings to other phenomena, including prion-driven neurodegenerative diseases and heterokaryon incompatibility in fungi, is discussed.Hsp40 ͉ neurodegenerative disease ͉ Sis1 ͉ Rnq1 ͉ yeast prion

Genetic and environmental factors responsible for numerous neurodegenerative diseases vary between disorders, yet age remains a universal risk factor. Age-associated decline in protein homeostasis, or proteostasis, enables disease-linked proteins to adopt aberrant tertiary structures, accumulate as higher-ordered aggregates, and cause a myriad of cellular dysfunctions and neuronal death. However, recent findings suggest that the assembly of disease proteins into tightly ordered aggregates can significantly delay proteotoxic onset. Furthermore, manipulation of metabolic pathways through key signaling components extends lifespan, bolsters proteostasis networks, and delays the onset of proteotoxicity. Thus, understanding the relationship between proteostasis and aging has provided important insights into neurodegeneration.

The conserved transcription factor HSF-1 is essential to cellular stress resistance and organismal lifespan determination. The canonical function of HSF-1 is to regulate a network of molecular chaperones that maintain protein homeostasis during extrinsic environmental stresses or intrinsic age related deterioration. In the metazoan C. elegans, we engineered a modified HSF-1 strain that increases stress resistance and longevity without enhancing chaperone induction. This HSF-1 dependent health assurance acts through the regulation of pat-10. Upon heat stress pat-10 upregulation maintains a functional actin cytoskeleton and endocytic network. Loss of pat-10 causes a collapse of organismal health and failure of stress resistance. Furthermore, overexpression of pat-10 is sufficient to increase both thermotolerance and longevity by mechanisms that affect actin stability. Our findings indicate that in addition to chaperone induction, HSF-1 plays a prominent role in cytoskeletal integrity to ensure proper cellular function during times of stress and aging.