Sirtuīns

Sirtuins

Sirtuins are a family of proteins that help manage how cells respond to stress, use energy, and repair damage. They work mainly by removing small chemical tags from other proteins, which changes those proteins’ activity and how genes are expressed. Sirtuins depend on NAD+ to function, so they connect a cell’s energy state to processes like DNA repair, inflammation control, and metabolism. Different sirtuins live in different parts of the cell—some in the nucleus, some in the fluid outside the nucleus, and some in mitochondria—so they influence many cellular systems. Scientists are interested in sirtuins because activating them appears to improve stress resistance and metabolic health in lab studies and some animal experiments. Activities that reduce energy intake, like short-term fasting or calorie restriction, tend to activate sirtuins, which is one reason these practices affect aging-related processes. There is ongoing research into drugs and nutrients that might safely influence sirtuin activity, but human results are still being worked out. Knowing about these proteins matters because they are a key link between metabolism, aging, and cell repair.