DNA base excision repair and nucleotide excision repair synergistically contribute to survival of stationary-phase cells of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Defects of genome maintenance may causally contribute to aging. In general, base excision repair (BER) is involved in the repair of subtle base lesions and AP sites, and bulky helix-distorting lesions are restored by nucleotide excision repair (NER). Here, we measured the chronological lifespan (CLS) of BER- and NER-deficient mutants of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, and observed the aging process of cells.

Quantitative PCR for detection of DNA damage in mitochondrial DNA of the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

Quantitative polymerase chain reaction (QPCR) has been employed to detect DNA damage and repair in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of human and several model organisms. The assay also permits the quantitation of relative mtDNA copy number in cells. Here, we developed the QPCR assay primers and reaction conditions for the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, an important model of eukaryote biology, not previously described.

Mitochondrial superoxide dismutase deficiency accelerates chronological aging in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

A mitochondrial superoxide dismutase (SOD2) is the first line of antioxidant defense against mitochondrial superoxide. Even though the involvement of SOD2 in lifespan has been studied extensively in several organisms, characterization of the aging process has not been performed for the sod2 mutant (sod2Δ) of a prominent model Schizosaccharomyces pombe. In this study, we measured the chronological lifespan of sod2Δ cells by their ability to survive in long-term culture.