Downregulation of the tyrosine degradation pathway extends lifespan. Author Andrey Parkhitko, Divya Ramesh, Lin Wang, Dmitry Leshchiner, Elizabeth Filine, Richard Binari, Abby Olsen, John Asara, Valentin Cracan, Joshua Rabinowitz, Axel Brockmann, Norbert Perrimon Publication Year 2020 Type Journal Article Abstract Aging is characterized by extensive metabolic reprogramming. To identify metabolic pathways associated with aging, we analyzed age-dependent changes in the metabolomes of long-lived . Among the metabolites that changed, levels of tyrosine were increased with age in long-lived flies. We demonstrate that the levels of enzymes in the tyrosine degradation pathway increase with age in wild-type flies. Whole-body and neuronal-specific downregulation of enzymes in the tyrosine degradation pathway significantly extends lifespan, causes alterations of metabolites associated with increased lifespan, and upregulates the levels of tyrosine-derived neuromediators. Moreover, feeding wild-type flies with tyrosine increased their lifespan. Mechanistically, we show that suppression of ETC complex I drives the upregulation of enzymes in the tyrosine degradation pathway, an effect that can be rescued by tigecycline, an FDA-approved drug that specifically suppresses mitochondrial translation. In addition, tyrosine supplementation partially rescued lifespan of flies with ETC complex I suppression. Altogether, our study highlights the tyrosine degradation pathway as a regulator of longevity. Keywords Animals, Drosophila melanogaster, Aging, Longevity, Mitochondria, Tyrosine, Electron Transport Chain Complex Proteins, Tigecycline, Tyrosine Transaminase Journal Elife Volume 9 Date Published 2020 Dec 15 ISSN Number 2050-084X DOI 10.7554/eLife.58053 Alternate Journal Elife PMCID PMC7744100 PMID 33319750 PubMedPubMed CentralGoogle ScholarBibTeXEndNote X3 XML