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Ageing

Beneficial miscommunication

Nature volume 497, pages 442–443 (2013)Cite this article

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Natural variations in the rate of protein translation in cellular organelles called mitochondria have been found to correlate with lifespan, suggesting a unified mechanism for the effects of metabolic alterations on longevity. See Article p.451

Our existence depends on a small interloper that resides within our cells — the persistent and phantom-like presence of a once autonomous organism. More than 2 billion years ago, as one bacterium tried, but failed, to consume another, two cells forged a relationship that eventually resulted in the evolution of one into a subcellular organelle — the mitochondrion — of the other. As time passed, this organelle became a small metabolic factory for its host cell, allowing the host to produce enough energy to differentiate and to evolve into the intricate networks of cells and tissues that form the basis of a complex organism1. What happens to the organism when this endosymbiotic relationship is disrupted, and the surprising effects of this disruption on lifespan, are the focus of a study by Houtkooper et al.2 on page 451 of this issue.

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Figure 1: Consequences of a cellular imbalance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Suzanne Wolff and Andrew Dillin are in the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-3370, USA, and at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.,

    Suzanne Wolff & Andrew Dillin

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  1. Suzanne Wolff
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  2. Andrew Dillin
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Correspondence to Andrew Dillin.

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Wolff, S., Dillin, A. Beneficial miscommunication. Nature 497, 442–443 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/497442a

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