Aging, calorie restriction and ubiquitin-dependent proteolysis in the livers of Emory mice.

Calorie restriction (R), the only known method to delay the aging process and extend mean and maximal lifespan, has been shown to delay the age-related decline in protein degradation. There are several proteolytic pathways. The ubiquitin- and ATP-dependent proteolytic pathway (UPP) is frequently associated with degradation of damaged abnormal and/or regulatory proteins. We examined the effect of aging and R on supernatants of livers taken from young (4.5 months) and old (23 months) Emory mice. Aging was associated with increased levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates, enhanced ability to form high molecular weight conjugates and ubiquitin activating (E1) and ubiquitin conjugating (E2) activity in the control (C) liver supernatants. The age-related increase in levels of endogenous ubiquitin conjugates in liver appears to be primarily due to increased E1 and E2 activities. R prevented the age-related increase in E1 and E2 activity, and thus prevented the age-related increase in levels of ubiquitin conjugates. In spite of the age-related increase in ubiquitin conjugates, no age-related changes in ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway were observed in the C animals. R was associated with an enhanced ability (130%) to degrade beta-lactoglobulin by the ubiquitin-dependent proteolytic pathway in livers from 4.5-month-old animals relative to age-matched C livers. However, rates of the ubiquitin-dependent degradation of beta-lactoglobulin in the 23-month-old C and R animals were indistinguishable. There were no age- or diet-related differences in the ability to degrade another substrate, oxidized ribonuclease (RNase).