Quantitative proteome for C.elegans by 3plex mTRAQ

Vesicle-mediated transport is a fundamental part of the secretory and endocytic pathways. In addition to their role in membrane protein trafficking, Arf-like protein subfamily of small GTPases also plays an important role in development, maintenance of Golgi structure and function. Proper protein trafficking is critical for cellular integrity and studies demonstrate that aberrant protein sorting leads to various diseases in many organisms including humans. However, to date, there is no report showing the role of Golgi apparatus and Golgi proteins in organismal longevity. Organisms dynamically reprogram their transcriptome and proteome as a response to internal and external changes, which alter physiological processes including aging. Compared to many transcriptomic studies that identified aging-regulatory genes, proteomic studies that identified aging-regulatory proteins are relatively scarce. By using a quantitative proteomic approach, we identified MON-2, an Arf-Gef protein implicated in Golgi-to-endosome trafficking, as a longevity-promoting protein. We found that MON-2 is essential for the long lifespan of various longevity mutants. Our results demonstrate that Golgi-to-endosome trafficking is an integral part of lifespan regulation.