Effects of flavonoids on ageing processes in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans

• Applicants: Dr. Britta Spanier; Professor Dr. Uwe Wenzel
• Subject Area: Nutritional Sciences
• Term: from 2006 to 2010
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 29979567

Flavonoids are a large class of polyphenolic compounds that occur ubiquitously in food plants and epidemiological studies suggest that flavonoids possess protective activities on a variety of degenerative diseases in humans when provided in the diet. By using the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans we will investigate in a comparative approach the effects of flavonoids on selected parameters of ageing processes, such as stress resistance, activities of antioxidative enzymes and glutathione-levels, accumulation of aged proteins, oxygen consumption rates and generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mitochondria and finally on mean and maximum life span. Different C. elegans strains with promoter-GFP reporter constructs will be generated to allow changes in expression of genes relevant for the antioxidative response to be determined in vivo. To define the target molecules of an active flavonoid, key genes of the insulin/IGF-1 signaling and SKN-1-related pathways that are known to be prime regulators of stress-resistance, antioxidative response and longevity will be silenced by small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and the influence on the overall response to an active flavonoid will be measured. Finally, by analysis of the nuclear proteome of C. elegans, transcription factors mediating the effects of flavonoids on ageing processes will be identified.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants