Research Highlights: Broccoli Contains Compound That Can Kill Yeast

Broccoli Contains Compound That Can Kill Yeast

• Broccoli is a common edible green plant in the family Brassicaceae with all of the parts eaten as vegetable.^[1]

• A compound called 3,3’-diindolylmethane or DIM can be obtained from the digestion of indole-3-carbinol, found in broccoli.

• DIM promotes cell death and autophagy in some human cancer.

• Autophagy refers to the natural process of cell degradation by which unnecessary or non-functional cellular components are removed or recycled.

• DIM extends lifespan in the yeast called Schizosaccharomyces pombe.

• S. pombe, often called fission yeast, is a species of yeast used in traditional brewing.^[3]

• However, the way by which DIM promotes cell destruction in humans and extends lifespan in S. pombe are not very well understood.

• Researchers show that DIM promotes cell destruction in log-phase cells which is dose-dependent.

• .Log-phase is the period by which cells exponentially increase in number.

• Researchers discovered that when high concentration of DIM was added, the cell’s nuclear envelope was disrupted and the chromosome tightly packed at an early stage.

• On the other hand, when low concentration of DIM was added, cells were degraded but did not cause disruption on the nuclear envelope.

• Cells defective in autophagy were more vulnerable to the low concentration of DIM which suggest the autophagic pathway contributes to the cell’s survival against DIM.

• Additionally, researchers discovered that the cells with lem2 mutation are more sensitive to DIM.

• Lem2 is a protein that regulates the size of the cell’s nuclear envelope.^[2]

• The nuclear envelope of cells with lem2 mutation was disrupted even at low DIM concentration.

• The results highlight the importance of autophagic pathway and nuclear envelope integrity in maintaining cell viability during exposure to low DIM concentration.

• Researchers speculated that the process of cell death and autophagy induce by DIM are conserved in humans and S. pombe.

• Future studies are needed to understand more about the DIM being able to induce cell death and autophagy in humans and S. pombe.

Sources:

Emami P, Ueno M (2021) 3,3’-Diindolylmethane induces apoptosis and autophagy in fission yeast. PLoS ONE 16(12): e0255758. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0255758

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli

[2] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-09623-x

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schizosaccharomyces_pombe