Tissue entrainment by feedback regulation of insulin gene expression in the endoderm of Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

How are the rates of aging of different tissues coordinated? In Caenorhabditis elegans, decreasing insulin/IGF-1 signaling extends lifespan by activating the transcription factor DAF-16/FOXO. If DAF-16 levels are experimentally increased in one tissue, such as the intestine, DAF-16 activity in other tissues rises. Here we test the hypothesis that this “FOXO-to-FOXO” signaling occurs via feedback regulation of ins-7 insulin gene expression. We find that DAF-16 regulates ins-7 expression in the intestine, and that preventing this regulation blocks FOXO-to-FOXO signaling from the intestine to other tissues. Our findings show that feedback regulation of insulin gene expression coordinates DAF-16 activity among the tissues, and they establish the intestine, which is the animal's entire endoderm, as an important insulin-signaling center.