Uric acid, an important antioxidant contributing to survival in termites

• 松浦, 健二

  Department of Applied Bioresources Chemistry, The United Graduate School of Agriculture, Tottori University･Department of Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University

• Sakurai, Hiroki

  Department of Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University

• Nitao, Masaru

  Department of Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University

• Matsuura, Kenji

  Department of Applied Biosciences, Graduate School of Agriculture, Kyoto University

• Iuchi, Yoshihito

  Department of Applied Bioresources Chemistry, The United Graduate School of Agriculture, Tottori University･Department of Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University･Graduate School of Sciences and Technology for Innovation, Yamaguchi University

• Pedro L. Oliveira

  editor

抄録

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are generated spontaneously in all organisms and cause oxidative damage to biomolecules when present in excess. Accumulated oxidative damage accelerates aging; enhanced antioxidant capacity may be a positive factor for longevity. Recently, numerous studies of aging and longevity have been performed using short-lived animals, however, longevity mechanisms remain unknown. Here we show that a termite Reticulitermes speratus that is thought to be long-lived eusocial insect than other solitary insects uses large quantities of uric acid as an antioxidant against ROS. We demonstrated that the accumulation of uric acid considerably increases the free radical-scavenging activity and resistance against ultraviolet-induced oxidative stress in laboratory-maintained termites. In addition, we found that externally administered uric acid aided termite survival under highly oxidative conditions. The present data demonstrates that in addition to nutritional and metabolic roles, uric acid is an essential antioxidant for survival and contributes significantly to longevity. Uric acid also plays important roles in primates but causes gout when present in excess in humans. Further longevity studies of long-lived organisms may provide important breakthroughs with human health applications.

収録刊行物

• PLOS ONE

  PLOS ONE 12 (6), e0179426-, 2017-06-13

  Public Library of Science (PLoS)

キーワード

• Multidisciplinary

詳細情報

• CRID: 1050287684992324224
• NII論文ID: 120006936334
• ISSN: 19326203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0179426
• HANDLE: 2433/259419
• Web Site: http://dx.plos.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179426
• 本文言語コード: en
• 資料種別: journal article
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