News Finding: The research team also observed that turning off autophagy in the intestine made the slow-eating, long-lived worms move around less.
Paper Finding: Interestingly, we observed that intestinal autophagy was required for the motility of eat-2 mutants, highlighting a cell non-autonomous function of autophagy in the intestine.
News Context: "It's possible that the decline in the gut's barrier function associated with normal aging might let damaging substances or pathogens into the body." The research team also observed that turning off autophagy in the intestine made the slow-eating, long-lived worms move around less. "The decrease in physical activity indicates that autophagy in one organ can have a major impact on other organs, in this case probably muscle or motor neurons," said Hansen.
Paper Context: These observations suggest a longevity role for autophagy not only in the intestine but also in body-wall muscle, as suggested in WT mice [ , and indicate differences between the role of basal autophagy versus autophagy induced by DR in maintaining muscle integrity that are still to be elucidated. Interestingly, we observed that intestinal autophagy was required for the motility of eat-2 mutants, highlighting a cell non-autonomous function of autophagy in the intestine. One explanation for this observation is that intestinal inhibition of autophagy may cause deterioration of this organ, as implied by our Smurf assays.