Muscle‐specific overexpression of Atg2 gene and endurance exercise delay age‐related deteriorations of skeletal muscle and heart function via activating the AMPK/Sirt1/PGC‐1α pathway in male Drosophila

Abstract Atg2 is a key gene in autophagy formation and plays an important role in regulating aging progress. Exercise is an important tool to resist oxidative stress in cells and delay muscle aging. However, the relationship between exercise and the muscle Atg2 gene in regulating skeletal muscle aging remains unclear. Here, overexpression or knockdown of muscle Atg2 gene was achieved by constructing the AtgUAS/MhcGal4 system in Drosophila, and these flies were also subjected to an exercise intervention for 2 weeks. The results showed that both overexpression of Atg2 and exercise significantly increased the climbing speed, climbing endurance, cardiac function, and lifespan of aging flies. They also significantly up‐regulated the expression of muscle Atg2, AMPK, Sirt1, and PGC‐1α genes, and they significantly reduced muscle malondialdehyde and triglyceride. These positive benefits were even more pronounced when the two were combined. However, the effects of Atg2 knockdown on skeletal muscle, heart, and lifespan were reversed compared to its overexpression. Importantly, exercise ameliorated age‐related changes induced by Atg2 knockdown. Therefore, current results confirmed that both overexpression of muscle Atg2 and exercise delayed age‐related deteriorations of skeletal muscle, the heart function, and lifespan, and exercise could also reverse age‐related changes induced by Atg2 knockdown. The molecular mechanism is related to the overexpression of the Atg2 gene and exercise, which increase the activity of the AMPK/Sirt1/PGC‐1α pathway, oxidation and antioxidant balance, and lipid metabolism in aging muscle.