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Volume 7, Issue 4 (Suppl) J Neurol Neurophysiol
ISSN:2155-9562 JNN, an open access journal
Page 29
Notes:
Neurology Congress 2016
September 21-23, 2016
conferenceseries.com
September 21-23, 2016 Amsterdam, Netherlands
8th European Neurology Congress
Oxidative stress response and longevity: Learning from yeast lessons
Elis Eleutherio
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Although aging is likely to be a multifactorial process, several evidences show that oxidative stress is connected to life span. Many
questions remain unanswered: oxidative stress does indeed contribute to ageing; do ROS act purely as random, destructive
agents or as regulators of pathways of stress response and ageing; is it the absolute level of oxidative stress or the response to oxidative
stress, or a combination of both, that determines life span? Interest in the factors that determine longevity has increased since the
life expectancy has increased and the world leading causes of death are age-related diseases, such as cancer and neurodegenerative
diseases. The use of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as an experimental model in biochemical studies has enabled the understanding
of basic cellular and molecular processes. Even taken into consideration the vast differences in complexity between yeast and humans,
the study of ageing and oxidative stress response in yeast has provided key insights into pathways that modulate human longevity. The
entire genome sequence of yeast has been elucidated and it is amenable to genetic modifications, which facilitates the identification
of drug targeting genes or stress response pathways. A substantial portion of human protein-coding genes can actually substitute for
that of the yeast. In addition, S. cerevisiae has similar antioxidant responses to mammals and 30% of known genes involved in human
diseases have yeast functional homologues. So, we have been using the yeast model to investigate the role of antioxidant defenses in
cellular longevity and the molecular basis of neurodegeneration.
Biography
Elis Eleutherio has completed his PhD from UFRJ. She is the Head of Laboratory of Investigation of Stress Factors (Laboratório de Investigação de Fatores de
Estresse – LIFE) at Institute of Chemistry, UFRJ. She has published more than 60 papers in reputed journals and has supervised 10 PhD and 15 MSc theses.
Elis Eleutherio, J Neurol Neurophysiol 2016, 7:4 (Suppl)