Identification of conserved age-associated aggregation-prone proteins for natural molecule targeting during aging in Caenorhabditis elegans

Abstract

Aging is associated with proteome remodelling and progressive accumulation of insoluble proteins. Identifying age-enriched proteins that undergo aggregation and evaluating compounds capable of modulating their behaviour may provide insights into interventions that promote healthy aging. Here, we report a proteome-guided strategy to identify age-associated aggregation-prone proteins and evaluate phytochemicals targeting conserved proteins in Caenorhabditis elegans. We identified proteins whose abundance increased more than four-fold in aged worms compared with young worms, many of which also accumulated in the age-associated insoluble proteome, and subsequently identified their human orthologs for comparative analysis. Based on biological relevance, structural conservation, and availability of high-confidence structural models, glutamine-fructose-6-phosphate aminotransferase-2 (GFAT-2) was selected for molecular docking. Screening of fifteen phytochemicals against C. elegans GFAT-2 and its human ortholog GFPT1 identified quercetin as the strongest predicted binder, exhibiting conserved interactions with both proteins. However, treatment of worms with quercetin did not significantly alter global protein insolubility during aging. This may reflect its ability to modulate inappropriate protein-protein interactions without substantially affecting the overall aggregation burden. These findings underscore the need for experimental validation of favourable in silico docking predictions. More broadly, this study provides a proteome-guided framework for prioritizing age-associated aggregation-prone proteins as candidate therapeutic targets for preserving proteostasis during aging.