title: A novel gene, ecl1(+), extends the chronological lifespan in fission yeast.
abstract: We have identified a novel gene from Schizosaccharomyces pombe that we have named ecl1(+) (extender of the chronological lifespan). When ecl1(+) is provided on a high-copy number plasmid, it extends the viability of both the Deltasty1 MAP kinase mutant and the wild-type cells after entry into the stationary phase. ecl1(+) encodes an 80-amino acid polypeptide that had not been annotated in the current database. The ecl1(+)-mRNA increases transiently when the growth phase is changed from the log phase to the stationary phase. The Ecl1 protein is localized in the nucleus. Calorie restriction extends the chronological lifespan of wild-type and Deltaecl1 cells but not ecl1(+)-overproducing cells. The Deltapka1 mutant shows little, if any, additional extension of viability when Ecl1 is overproduced. The ste11(+) gene that is negatively controlled by Pka1 is up regulated when Ecl1 is overproduced. From these results we propose that the effect of Ecl1 overproduction may be mainly linked to and negatively affects the Pka1-dependent pathway.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, School of Agriculture, Nagoya University, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, Japan.
authors.forename: Hokuto
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ohtsuka
authors.forename: Satoka
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mita
authors.forename: Yuki
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ogawa
authors.forename: Kenko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Azuma
authors.forename: Hirokazu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Hirofumi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Aiba
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000737:chemistry; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D017353:Gene Deletion; D018628:Gene Dosage; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D050296:Microbial Viability / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D012568:Schizosaccharomyces / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins