Role of mitochondria in aging and age-related disease

Experimental Gerontology 45 (2010) 465 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Experimental Gerontology journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/expgero Editorial Role of mitochondria in aging and age-related disease Mitochondria, organelles with a central role in energy transduction, apoptosis, and other fundamental pathways, are known to play a fundamental role in processes leading to aging of organisms from yeast to humans. They are also causatively linked to a number of human degenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease). In this Special Issue of ‘Experimental Gerontology’ leading expert in the field of Mitochondrial Biology address different aspects related to the ‘Role of Mitochondria in Aging and Age-Related Disease’. This Special Issue evolved from the Integrated Project on ‘The role of mitochondria in conserved mechanisms of ageing’ (acronym: MiMage) supported by the European Commission in which 12 partners from 8 European Countries and one associated member from Canada worked together from January 2005 till the end of 2009. The voluntary contribution of three external advisers, S.M. Jazwinski, New Orleans (US), T.E. Johnson, Boulder, Colorado (US), and T. Kirkwood, New Castle (UK), was greatly appreciated by the consortium and was very important for a smooth evolution of the project. As a final event of this project an international conference was organized in Les Diablerets (Switzerland), September 26–30, 2009, in which all members of the consortium and an equal number of renowned experts in the field of aging research and mitochondrial biology from outside the MiMage consortium presented their work. The contributions in this Special Issue come from the participants of this conference and include both timely reviews as well as original research papers. While most of the articles report work on mitochondria closely related to aging or age-related disease, some contributions present very basic topics of mitochondrial biology with potential impact for the aging process. Among these, one article reviews the current state of research on the sites and the topology of mitochondrial superoxide generation, a topic related to the roots of the ‘mitochondrial free radical theory of aging’. A number of articles deal either with molecular pathways which lower ROS production at the mitochondrial respiratory chain, scavenge ROS, protect and repair biomolecules, or are involved in the efficient degradation of damaged molecules, organelles (mitochondrial dynamics and mitophagy) or of whole cells. Some reports address the accumulation of damage and the impact on mitochondrial functions in aging systems and in disease. The reported work is derived from investigations with different model organisms (yeast, Podospora anserina, Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, mice) and model systems (mammalian cell cultures) which are tractable to experimentation. Intraspecific comparison of components and pathways, 0531-5565/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.exger.2010.05.001 emerging as being involved in aging and life span modulation, promise to identify basic, conserved mechanisms of aging that also are of relevance for human aging and are involved in causing agerelated degenerative diseases that are becoming an increasing burden on the ‘greying’ industrialized societies. Efficient interference into the aging process may be possible once more basic details about the network of molecular pathways governing aging are fully understood. Some hope lies on defining nutritional regimes, like a reduced intake of calories that has proven to be effective in different model organisms. Investigations on the elucidation of the underlying mechanisms are reported for Podospora anserina and yeast in this volume of ‘Experimental Gerontology’. Overall, the contributions in this Special Issue provide a good overview about an exciting and active area of aging research, an area in which important questions are still waiting to be solved. Among others, more careful investigations need to be performed to elucidate the role of mitochondrial ROS in aging. Is the role of these small molecules restricted to their damaging potential or are they not also involved in signaling and a specific control of age-related gene expression? How are the different mitochondrial pathways which are known to play a role in aging connected and how do they interact with each other? These are only a few questions which are calling for more integrated research activities as they may be addressed by systems biology approaches, which are currently being applied to the study of complex biological processes like aging and age-related disease. At this point I would like to thank the Editor-in-Chief of Experimental Gerontology, T.E. Johnson, for his interest in this topic of aging research and for all of his help during the production of this Special Issue of Experimental Gerontology and all the reviewers for their voluntary, important contributions during the reviewing process. Heinz D. Osiewacz Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Faculty of Biosciences and Cluster of Excellence, ‘Macromolecular Complexes’, Max-von-Laue-Str. 9, D-60438 Frankfurt, Germany Tel.: +49 6979829264; fax: +49 6979829363 E-mail address: Osiewacz@bio.uni-frankfurt.de Available online 6 May 2010