title: Green tea polyphenols require the mitochondrial iron transporter, mitoferrin, for lifespan extension in Drosophila melanogaster.
abstract: Green tea has been found to increase the lifespan of various experimental animal models including the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. High in polyphenolic content, green tea has been shown to reduce oxidative stress in part by its ability to bind free iron, a micronutrient that is both essential for and toxic to all living organisms. Due to green tea's iron-binding properties, we questioned whether green tea acts to increase the lifespan of the fruit fly by modulating iron regulators, specifically, mitoferrin, a mitochondrial iron transporter, and transferrin, found in the hemolymph of flies. Publicly available hypomorph mutants for these iron regulators were utilized to investigate the effect of green tea on lifespan and fertility. We identified that green tea could not increase the lifespan of mitoferrin mutants but did rescue the reduced male fertility phenotype. The effect of green tea on transferrin mutant lifespan and fertility were comparable to w1118flies, as observed in our previous studies, in which green tea increased male fly lifespan and reduced male fertility. Expression levels in both w1118flies and mutant flies, supplemented with green tea, showed an upregulation of mitoferrin but not transferrin. Total body and mitochondrial iron levels were significantly reduced by green tea supplementation in w1118and mitoferrin mutants but not transferrin mutant flies. Our results demonstrate that green tea may act to increase the lifespan of Drosophila in part by the regulation of mitoferrin and reduction of mitochondrial iron.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Terry E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Lopez
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Hoang M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Nguyen
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Yerazik
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tahmasian
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ramsden
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Volkan
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Coskun
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Samuel E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Schriner
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Mahtab
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jafari
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000378:metabolism; D028241:Camellia sinensis / Q000737:chemistry*; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005298:Fertility / Q000187:drug effects; D007501:Iron / Q000378:metabolism*; D008136:Longevity / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D059808:Polyphenols / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000494:pharmacology; D014168:Transferrin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000975:Antioxidants; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; C543111:Mfrn protein, Drosophila; D059808:Polyphenols; D014168:Transferrin; D007501:Iron
keywords: fertility; green tea; iron; lifespan; mitoferrin