Lifespan decrease in a Caenorhabditis elegans mutant lacking TRX-1, a thioredoxin expressed in ASJ sensory neurons.
Thioredoxins are a class of small proteins that play a key role in regulating many cellular redox processes. We report here the characterization of the first member of the thioredoxin family in metazoans that is mainly associated with neurons. The Caenorhabditis elegans gene B0228.5 encodes a thioredoxin (TRX-1) that is expressed in ASJ ciliated sensory neurons, and to some extent also in the posterior-most intestinal cells. TRX-1 is active at reducing protein disulfides in the presence of a heterologous thioredoxin reductase. A mutant worm strain carrying a null allele of the trx-1 gene displays a reproducible decrease in both mean and maximum lifespan when compared to wild-type. The identification and characterization of TRX-1 paves the way to use C. elegans as an in vivo model to study the role of thioredoxins in lifespan and nervous system physiology and pathology.
Miranda-Vizuete
Antonio
A
Centro Andaluz de Biología del Desarrollo (CABD-CSIC), Departamento de Ciencias Ambientales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, E-41013 Sevilla, Spain. amirviz@upo.es
Fierro González
Juan Carlos
JC
Gahmon
Gabriele
G
Burghoorn
Jan
J
Navas
Plácido
P
Swoboda
Peter
P
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004220:Disulfides / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D008017:Life Expectancy; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013879:Thioredoxins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004220:Disulfides; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C508778:TRX-1 protein, C elegans; D013879:Thioredoxins