Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Ageing

Beneficial miscommunication

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

Subjects

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.

Your institute does not have access to this article

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Buy article

Get time limited or full article access on ReadCube.

$32.00

Buy

All prices are NET prices.

Figure 1: Consequences of a cellular imbalance.

References

  1. Martin, W., Hoffmeister, M., Rotte, C. & Henze, K. Biol. Chem. 382, 1521–1539 (2001).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Houtkooper, R. H. et al. Nature 497, 451–457 (2013).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Duchen, M. R. Mol. Aspects Med. 25, 365–451 (2004).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Gray, M. W. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Biol. 4, a011403 (2012).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Anderson, S. et al. Nature 290, 457–465 (1981).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Pagliarini, D. J. et al. Cell 134, 112–123 (2008).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Johnson, D. T. et al. Am. J. Physiol. Cell Physiol. 292, C689–C697 (2007).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Liu, Z. & Butow, R. A. Mol. Cell. Biol. 19, 6720–6728 (1999).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Parikh, V. S., Morgan, M. M., Scott, R., Clements, L. S. & Butow, R. A. Science 235, 576–580 (1987).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Zhao, Q. et al. EMBO J. 21, 4411–4419 (2002).

    CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Wallace, D. C. Science 283, 1482–1488 (1999).

    ADS  CAS  Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

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

Authors
  1. Suzanne Wolff
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Andrew Dillin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Dillin.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Cite this article

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

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/497442a

Further reading

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing