Autophagy genes mediate the effect of calcineurin on life span in C. elegans

Calcineurin (CaN) is a serine/threonine phosphatase, activated by Ca2+/calmodulin (Ca2+/CaM). CaN is known to regulate various cellular responses in different organisms. A recent study showed an extended life span in the calcineurin mutants of C. elegans. In this study, we report that calcineurin defective strains exhibit enhanced autophagy. In addition, we found two essential autophagy genes (bec-1 and atg-7) are required for the life-span extension in calcineurin null mutants [cnb-1(jh103)]. Thus, for the first time we suggest that autophagy genes are required for the life-span regulation in calcineurin defective C. elegans strains.