title: Identification of the copper chaperone, CUC-1, in Caenorhabditis elegans: tissue specific co-expression with the copper transporting ATPase, CUA-1.
abstract: A cDNA encoding a putative copper chaperone protein, CUC-1, was cloned from Caenorhabditis elegans. CUC-1 had the characteristic motifs of MTCXXC and KKTGK, and showed 49.3 and 39.1% sequence identity with yeast Atx1p and human HAH1, respectively. Expression of CUC-1 cDNA complemented a null atx1 mutant, the yeast copper chaperone gene, thus demonstrating that CUC-1 is a functional copper chaperone. Studies with transgenic worms indicated that cuc-1 and cua-1, which encodes the copper transporting ATPase, are expressed together in intestinal cells of adult and hypodermal cells in the larvae. cua-1 was also expressed in pharyngeal muscle but cuc-1 was not. These results suggest that CUC-1 and CUA-1 constitute a copper trafficking pathway similar to the yeast counterparts in intestinal and hypodermal cells, and CUA-1 may have a different function in pharyngeal muscle.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biological Sciences, Institute of Scientific and Industrial Research, Osaka University, CREST of the Japan Science and Technology Corporation.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wakabayashi
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sambongi
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oka
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Futai
mesh_terms: D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases / Q000235:genetics*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D003300:Copper / Q000378:metabolism*; D000079922:Copper Transport Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006801:Humans; D007422:Intestines; D007814:Larva; D056511:Metallochaperones; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010609:Pharyngeal Muscles; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
chemical_list: C474500:ATOX1 protein, human; C093341:ATX1 protein, S cerevisiae; C116349:CUC-1 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D027682:Cation Transport Proteins; D000079922:Copper Transport Proteins; D005656:Fungal Proteins; D056511:Metallochaperones; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D003300:Copper; D000251:Adenosine Triphosphatases