Molecular Chaperones and Proteolytic Machineries Regulate Protein Homeostasis In Aging Cells

• Main Authors: Boris Margulis, Anna Tsimokha, Svetlana Zubova, Irina Guzhova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-05-01
• Series: Cells
• Subjects: molecular chaperones; autophagy; ubiquitin-proteasomal system; aging
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4409/9/5/1308

Throughout their life cycles, cells are subject to a variety of stresses that lead to a compromise between cell death and survival. Survival is partially provided by the cell proteostasis network, which consists of molecular chaperones, a ubiquitin-proteasome system of degradation and autophagy. The cooperation of these systems impacts the correct function of protein synthesis/modification/transport machinery starting from the adaption of nascent polypeptides to cellular overcrowding until the utilization of damaged or needless proteins. Eventually, aging cells, in parallel to the accumulation of flawed proteins, gradually lose their proteostasis mechanisms, and this loss leads to the degeneration of large cellular masses and to number of age-associated pathologies and ultimately death. In this review, we describe the function of proteostasis mechanisms with an emphasis on the possible associations between them.