Research Perspective|Volume 2, Issue 1|pp 63—68

CYB5R3: a key player in aerobic metabolism and aging?

Rafael de Cabo¹, Emilio Siendones², Robin Minor¹, Plácido Navas²

¹Laboratory of Experimental Gerontology, National Institute on Aging, NIH, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA
²Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo, Universidad Pablo de Olavide-CSIC and Centre for Biomedical Research on Rare Diseases (CIBERER), ISCIII, E-41013 Sevilla, Spain

Received: November 30, 2009Accepted: December 28, 2009Published: December 29, 2009

Copyright: © 2009 de Cabo et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Aging results from a complex and not completely understood chain of processes that are associated with various negative metabolic consequences and ultimately leads to senescence and death. The intracellular ratio of pyridine nucleotides (NAD⁺/NADH), has been proposed to be at the center stage of age-related biochemical changes in organisms, and may help to explain the observed influence of calorie restriction and energy-sensitive proteins on lifespan in model organisms. Indeed, the NAD⁺/NADH ratios affect the activity of a number of proteins, including sirtuins, which have gained prominence in the aging field as potential mediators of the beneficial effects of calorie restriction and mediating lifespan. Here we review the activities of a redox enzyme (NQR1 in yeast and CYB5R3 in mammals) that also influences the NAD⁺/NADH ratio and may play a regulatory role that connects aerobic metabolism with aging.