The insulin͞insulin-like growth factor-like signaling pathway, present in all multicellular organisms, regulates diverse functions including growth, development, fecundity, metabolic homeostasis, and lifespan. In flies, ligands of the insulin͞insulin-like growth factor-like signaling pathway, the Drosophila insulin-like peptides, regulate growth and hemolymph carbohydrate homeostasis during development and are expressed in a stage-and tissue-specific manner. Here, we show that ablation of Drosophila insulin-like peptide-producing median neurosecretory cells in the brain leads to increased fasting glucose levels in the hemolymph of adults similar to that found in diabetic mammals. They also exhibit increased storage of lipid and carbohydrate, reduced fecundity, and reduced tolerance of heat and cold. However, the ablated flies show an extension of median and maximal lifespan and increased resistance to oxidative stress and starvation.

The insulin/IGF-like signalling (IIS) pathway has diverse functions in all multicellular organisms, including determination of lifespan. The seven insulin-like peptides (DILPs) in Drosophila are expressed in a stage- and tissue-specific manner. Partial ablation of the median neurosecretory cells (mNSCs) in the brain, which produce three DILPs, extends lifespan, reduces fecundity, alters lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and increases oxidative stress resistance. To determine if reduced expression of DILPs is causal in these effects, and to investigate possible functional diversification and redundancy between DILPs, we used RNA interference to lower specifically the transcript and protein levels of dilp2, the most highly expressed of the mNSC-derived DILPs. We found that DILP2 was limiting only for the increased whole-body trehalose content associated with mNSC-ablation. We observed a compensatory increase in dilp3 and 5 mRNA upon dilp2 knock down. By manipulation of dfoxo and dInR, we showed that the increase in dilp3 is regulated via autocrine insulin signaling in the mNSCs. Our study demonstrates that, despite the correlation between reduced dilp2 mRNA levels and lifespan-extension often observed, DILP2 reduction is not sufficient to extend lifespan. Nor is the increased trehalose storage associated with reduced IIS sufficient to extend lifespan. To understand the normal regulation of expression of the dilps and any functional diversification between them will require independent control of the expression of different dilps.

The paracaspase mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue 1 (MALT1) is central to lymphocyte activation and lymphomagenesis. MALT1 mediates antigen receptor signalling to NF-jB by acting as a scaffold protein. Furthermore, MALT1 has proteolytic activity that contributes to optimal NF-jB activation by cleaving the NF-jB inhibitor A20. Whether MALT1 protease activity is involved in other signalling pathways, and the identity of the relevant substrates, is unknown. Here, we show that T-cell receptors (TCR) activation, as well as overexpression of the oncogenic API2-MALT1 fusion protein, results in proteolytic inactivation of CYLD by MALT1, which is specifically required for c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) activation and the inducible expression of a subset of genes. These results indicate a novel role for MALT1 proteolytic activity in TCRinduced JNK activation and reveal CYLD cleavage as the underlying mechanism.

SummaryDietary restriction extends lifespan in diverse organisms, but the gene regulatory mechanisms and tissues mediating the increased survival are still unclear. Studies in worms and flies have revealed a number of candidate mechanisms, including the target of rapamycin and insulin ⁄ IGF-like signalling (IIS) pathways and suggested a specific role for the nervous system in mediating the response. A pair of sensory neurons in Caenorhabditis elegans has been found to specifically mediate DR lifespan extension, but a neuronal focus in the Drosophila nervous system has not yet been identified. We have previously shown that reducing IIS via the partial ablation of median neurosecretory cells in the Drosophila adult brain, which produce three of the seven fly insulin-like peptides, extends lifespan. Here, we show that these cells are required to mediate the response of lifespan to full feeding in a yeast dilution DR regime and that they appear to do so by mechanisms that involve both altered IIS and other endocrine effects. We also present evidence of an interaction between these mNSCs, nutrition and sleep, further emphasising the functional homology between the DILP-producing neurosecretory cells in the Drosophila brain and the hypothalamus of mammals in their roles as integration sites of many inputs for the control of lifespan and behaviour.

Mutations in CARD14 have recently been linked to psoriasis susceptibility. CARD14 is an epidermal regulator of NF-jB activation. However, the ability of CARD14 to activate other signaling pathways as well as the biochemical mechanisms that mediate and regulate its function remain to be determined. Here, we report that in addition to NF-jB signaling, CARD14 activates p38 and JNK MAP kinase pathways, all of which are dependent on the paracaspase MALT1. Mechanistically, we demonstrate that CARD14 physically interacts with paracaspase MALT1 and activates MALT1 proteolytic activity and inflammatory gene expression, which are enhanced by psoriasis-associated CARD14 mutations. Moreover, we show that MALT1 deficiency or pharmacological inhibition of MALT1 catalytic activity inhibits pathogenic mutant CARD14-induced cytokine and chemokine expression in human primary keratinocytes. Collectively, our findings demonstrate a novel role for MALT1 in CARD14-induced signaling and indicate MALT1 as a valuable therapeutic target in psoriasis.

To investigate whether alterations in mitochondrial metabolism affect longevity in Drosophila melanogaster, we studied lifespan in various single gene mutants, using inbred and outbred genetic backgrounds. As positive controls we included the two most intensively studied mutants of Indy, which encodes a Drosophila Krebs cycle intermediate transporter. It has been reported that flies heterozygous for these Indy mutations, which lie outside the coding region, show almost a doubling of lifespan. We report that only one of the two mutants lowers mRNA levels, implying that the lifespan extension observed is not attributable to the Indy mutations themselves. Moreover, neither Indy mutation extended lifespan in female flies in any genetic background tested. In the original genetic background, only the Indy mutation associated with altered RNA expression extended lifespan in male flies. However, this effect was abolished by backcrossing into standard outbred genetic backgrounds, and was associated with an unidentified locus on the X chromosome. The original Indy line with long-lived males is infected by the cytoplasmic symbiont Wolbachia, and the longevity of Indy males disappeared after tetracycline clearance of this endosymbiont. These findings underscore the critical importance of standardisation of genetic background and of cytoplasm in genetic studies of lifespan, and show that the lifespan extension previously claimed for Indy mutants was entirely attributable to confounding variation from these two sources. In addition, we saw no effects on lifespan of expression knockdown of the Indy orthologues nac-2 and nac-3 in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

Paracaspases and metacaspases are two families of caspase-like proteins identified in 2000. Up until now paracaspases were considered a single gene family with one known non-metazoan paracaspase in the slime mold Dictyostelium and a single animal paracaspase called MALT1. Human MALT1 is a critical signaling component in many innate and adaptive immunity pathways that drive inflammation, and when it is overly active, it can also cause certain forms of cancer. Here, we report the identification and functional analysis of two new vertebrate paracaspases, PCASP2 and PCASP3. Functional characterization indicates that both scaffold and protease functions are conserved across the three vertebrate paralogs. This redundancy might explain the loss of two of the paralogs in mammals and one in Xenopus. Several of the vertebrate paracaspases currently have incorrect or ambiguous annotations. We propose to annotate them accordingly as PCASP1, PCASP2, and PCASP3 similar to the caspase gene nomenclature. A comprehensive search in other metazoans and in non-metazoan species identified additional new paracaspases. We also discovered the first animal metacaspase in the sponge Amphimedon. Comparative analysis of the active site suggests that paracaspases constitute one of the several subclasses of metacaspases that have evolved several times independently.

Summary Low environmental temperature and dietary restriction (DR) extend lifespan in diverse organisms. In the fruit fly Drosophila, switching flies between temperatures alters the rate at which mortality subsequently increases with age but does not reverse mortality rate. In contrast, DR acts acutely to lower mortality risk; flies switched between control feeding and DR show a rapid reversal of mortality rate. DR thus does not slow accumulation of ageing-related damage. Molecular species that track the effects of temperatures on mortality but are unaltered with switches in diet are therefore potential biomarkers of ageing-related damage. However, molecular species that switch upon instigation or withdrawal of DR are thus potential biomarkers of mechanisms underlying risk of mortality, but not of ageing-related damage. Using this approach, we assessed several commonly used biomarkers of ageing-related damage. Accumulation of fluorescent advanced glycation end products (AGEs) correlated strongly with mortality rate of flies at different temperatures but was independent of diet. Hence fluorescent AGEs are biomarkers of ageing-related damage in flies. In contrast, five oxidised and glycated protein adducts accumulated with age, but were reversible with both temperature and diet, and are therefore not markers either of acute risk of dying or of ageing-related damage. Our approach provides a powerful method for identification of biomarkers of ageing.