Intersection of calorie restriction and magnesium in the suppression of genome-destabilizing RNA–DNA hybrids

Dietary calorie restriction is a broadly acting intervention that extends the lifespan of various organisms from yeast to mammals. On another front, magnesium (Mg(2+)) is an essential biological metal critical to fundamental cellular processes and is commonly used as both a dietary supplement and treatment for some clinical conditions. If connections exist between calorie restriction and Mg(2+) is unknown. Here, we show that Mg(2+), acting alone or in response to dietary calorie restriction, allows eukaryotic cells to combat genome-destabilizing and lifespan-shortening accumulations of RNA–DNA hybrids, or R-loops. In an R-loop accumulation model of Pbp1-deficient Saccharomyces cerevisiae, magnesium ions guided by cell membrane Mg(2+) transporters Alr1/2 act via Mg(2+)-sensitive R-loop suppressors Rnh1/201 and Pif1 to restore R-loop suppression, ribosomal DNA stability and cellular lifespan. Similarly, human cells deficient in ATXN2, the human ortholog of Pbp1, exhibit nuclear R-loop accumulations repressible by Mg(2+) in a process that is dependent on the TRPM7 Mg(2+) transporter and the RNaseH1 R-loop suppressor. Thus, we identify Mg(2+) as a biochemical signal of beneficial calorie restriction, reveal an R-loop suppressing function for human ATXN2 and propose that practical magnesium supplementation regimens can be used to combat R-loop accumulation linked to the dysfunction of disease-linked human genes.