L-Theanine Prolongs the Lifespan by Activating Multiple Molecular Pathways in Ultraviolet C-Exposed Caenorhabditis elegans .
Liangwen ChenGuijie ChenTingting GaiXiuhong ZhouJinchi ZhuRuiyi WangXuemei WangYujie GuoYun WangZhong-Wen XiePublished in: Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) (2024)
L-theanine, a unique non-protein amino acid, is an important bioactive component of green tea. Previous studies have shown that L-theanine has many potent health benefits, such as anti-anxiety effects, regulation of the immune response, relaxing neural tension, and reducing oxidative damage. However, little is known concerning whether L-theanine can improve the clearance of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage in organisms. Here, we reported that L-theanine treatment increased ATP production and improved mitochondrial morphology to extend the lifespan of UVC-exposed nematodes. Mechanistic investigations showed that L-theanine treatment enhanced the removal of mtDNA damage and extended lifespan by activating autophagy, mitophagy, mitochondrial dynamics, and mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR mt ) in UVC-exposed nematodes. In addition, L-theanine treatment also upregulated the expression of genes related to mitochondrial energy metabolism in UVC-exposed nematodes. Our study provides a theoretical basis for the possibility that tea drinking may prevent mitochondrial-related diseases.
Keyphrases
- oxidative stress
- mitochondrial dna
- immune response
- amino acid
- copy number
- gene expression
- combination therapy
- endoplasmic reticulum stress
- physical activity
- poor prognosis
- toll like receptor
- dna methylation
- dendritic cells
- genome wide
- transcription factor
- risk assessment
- climate change
- replacement therapy
- genome wide identification