MICS-1 interacts with mitochondrial ATAD-3 and modulates lifespan in C. elegans.

Caenorhabditis elegans open reading frame T21C9.1 encodes an uncharacterized protein, which is here named MICS-1 (mitochondrial scaffolding protein-1). It is predicted to be the homolog of human outer mitochondrial membrane protein 25 (OMP25 or synaptojanin-2-binding protein), which is a PDZ domain containing protein with a putative role in cellular stress response pathways. Here, we provide evidence that MICS-1 is an interacting partner of mitochondrial protein ATAD-3 (homologue of human ATAD3), which is essential for C. elegans development. We demonstrate that animals or mics-1 mutants display enhanced longevity with an increased mean lifespan of up to 54% compared to control animals. Of note, also promoted longevity, although to a lesser extend (29% compared to controls). In addition, thermal stress of mics-1 mutants induced low reactive oxygen species production, whereas atad-3(duanyu1615) animals were highly sensitive to this assay, displaying drastically increased levels. Further studies revealed that MICS-1 and ATAD-3 associated longevity was partially dependent on the presence of DAF-16. However, for both conditions, we also found a DAF-16 independent extension of lifespan. Finally, we observed an additional lifespan extension in mics-1 mutants when subjected to atad-3(duanyu1615) whereas heat induced duanyu1670 production was even aggravated under this condition. This suggests (partially) independent effects of MICS-1 and ATAD-3 on lifespan and duanyu1670 production in vivo.

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