An Age-Related Reduction in Tom70 is Relevant to Mitochondrial Aging

Researchers here implicate an age-related reduction in Tom70 levels in the decline in mitochondrial function that takes place in later life. Mitochondria are the power plants of the cell; when their production of the chemical energy store molecule ATP is diminished, then all cell functions suffer as a result. Mitochondrial dysfunction with age is thought to produce a significant contribution to degenerative aging, and a broad range of research and development efforts are devoted to finding ways to address this problem. Research into Tom70 is at a very early stage, so it remains to be seen as to how useful this discovery will be. It seems likely, at the present time, based on what is known now, that the most important approaches to mitochondrial aging will be (a) epigenetic reprogramming to restore youthful expression of relevant proteins and (b) replacement of a patient's mitochondria via intravenous delivery of large numbers of mitochondria manufactured in cell cultures, to be taken up by cells and put to work. Mitochondrial biogenesis has two major steps: the transcriptional activation of nuclear genome-encoded mitochondrial proteins and the import of nascent mitochondrial proteins that are synthesized in the cytosol. These nascent mitochondrial proteins are aggregation-prone and can cause cytosolic proteostasis stress. The transcription factor-dependent transcriptional regulations and the TOM-TIM complex-dependent import of nascent mitochondrial proteins have been...
Source: Fight Aging! - Category: Research Authors: Tags: Daily News Source Type: blogs