Brunet A (2007) Nat Genet "Aging and cancer: killing two birds with one worm."

Brunet A

[Nat Genet, 2007]

Two new studies explore the genetic mechanisms connecting aging and tumor growth in Caenorhabditis elegans. This work should provide a basis to consider ways to prevent and treat age-dependent cancers.

Yeo R et al. (2016) Cell Metab "Deconstructing Dietary Restriction: A Case for Systems Approaches in Aging."

Yeo R, Brunet A

[Cell Metab, 2016]

Dietary restriction is a robust and conserved intervention to slow aging and extend lifespan. In this issue of Cell Metabolism, Hou et al. (2016) use a systems biology approach in C. elegans to uncover key molecular nodes underlying the transcriptomic response to dietary restriction and predict novel regulators of lifespan.

Booth LN et al. (2015) Mol Cell "Shockingly Early: Chromatin-Mediated Loss of the Heat Shock Response."

Booth LN, Brunet A

[Mol Cell, 2015]

In this issue of Molecular Cell, Labbadia and Morimoto (2015) show that there is a precipitous decline in stress resistance at the onset of reproduction in C.elegans and that this transition is regulated by changes in repressive chromatin marks.

Miklas JW et al. (2020) Science "Support cells in the brain promote longevity."

Brunet A, Miklas JW

[Science, 2020]

Webb AE et al. (2013) Nat Cell Biol "FOXO flips the longevity SWItch."

Brunet A, Webb AE

[Nat Cell Biol, 2013]

FOXO transcription factors promote longevity from worms to mammals, but the mechanisms by which FOXO extends lifespan have remained elusive. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, FOXO is now shown to recruit the nucleosome remodelling complex SWI/SNF to its target genes, which is essential for FOXO to elicit stress resistance and longevity.

Han S et al. (2015) Science "Cell biology. Lysosomal lipid lengthens life span."

Han S, Brunet A

[Science, 2015]

Tuck S (2011) Curr Biol "Extracellular vesicles: budding regulated by a phosphatidylethanolamine translocase."

Tuck S

[Curr Biol, 2011]

Recent work on a Caenorhabditis elegans transmembrane ATPase reveals a central role for the aminophospholipid phosphatidylethanolamine in the production of a class of extracellular vesicles.

Kress E et al. (2011) Nat Cell Biol "Aurora A in cell division: kinase activity not required."

Kress E, Gotta M

[Nat Cell Biol, 2011]

Aurora A kinase is a key regulator of cell division, whose functions were attributed to its ability to phosphorylate diverse substrates. Aurora A is now shown to have a kinase-independent role in the regulation of chromatin-mediated microtubule assembly.

Musacchio A (2015) Elife "Closing the Mad2 cycle."

Musacchio A

[Elife, 2015]

Chromosome separation is regulated by a cycle that involves a protein undergoing an unusual topological conversion.

Prosser SL et al. (2015) Curr Biol "Centrosome biology: the ins and outs of centrosome assembly."

Pelletier L, Prosser SL

[Curr Biol, 2015]

As a microtubule-organizing center, the centrosome undergoes a dramatic increase in size - via expansion of the pericentriolar material - during mitosis. Recent work reveals shared assembly properties of a protein scaffold that facilitates and supports this expansion, a process critical to spindle assembly.