Prohibitin depletion extends lifespan of a TORC2/SGK-1 mutant through autophagy

Mitochondrial prohibitins (PHB) are highly conserved proteins with a peculiar effect on lifespan. While PHB depletion shortens lifespan of wild type animals, it enhances longevity of a plethora of metabolically compromised mutants, including target of rapamycin complex 2 (TORC2) mutants sgk-1 and rict-1 . Here, we show that sgk-1 mutants have impaired mitochondrial homeostasis, lipogenesis, yolk formation and autophagy flux due to alterations in membrane lipid and sterol homeostasis. Remarkably, all these features are suppressed by PHB depletion. Lifespan analysis shows that autophagy and the mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPRmt), but not mitophagy, are required for the enhanced longevity caused by PHB depletion in sgk-1 mutants. We hypothesize that UPRmt induction upon PHB depletion extends lifespan of sgk-1 mutants through autophagy. Our results strongly suggest that PHB depletion suppresses the autophagy defects of sgk-1 mutants by altering membrane lipid composition at ER-mitochondria contact sites, where TORC2 localizes.