Question:medium

Regarding anti-ageing/longevity drugs and their molecular targets, which of the following pairs is incorrectly matched?

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Spermidine is famous for switching autophagy ON, not off.
Updated On: Jun 25, 2026
  • Rapamycin - mTOR inhibitor
  • Metformin - AMPK activator
  • Resveratrol - Sirtuin (SIRT1) activator
  • Spermidine - decreases autophagy
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Longevity pharmacology centres on a handful of nutrient-sensing nodes: mTOR, AMPK, sirtuins, and autophagy. Map each drug to its node.

Rapamycin is the prototypical $mTOR$ inhibitor - correct. Metformin is an $AMPK$ activator that mimics caloric restriction - correct. Resveratrol stimulates $SIRT1$, an $NAD^{+}$-dependent deacetylase - correct.

The odd one out is spermidine. Spermidine is one of the most robust dietary inducers of autophagy; by inhibiting the acetyltransferase EP300 it relieves a brake on autophagy and thereby up-regulates it. The given pairing claims spermidine "decreases autophagy," which reverses its true action. Hence this is the incorrect match.

\[\boxed{\text{Spermidine } \textbf{increases} \text{ autophagy} \Rightarrow \text{option 4 is wrong}}\]
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