Functional and phenotypic relevance of differentially expressed proteins in calcineurin mutants of Caenorhabditis elegans.
Calcineurin is a heterodimeric serine/threonine protein phosphatase, important for many cellular processes such as T-cell regulation, cardiac hypertrophy and kidney development. We previously reported the characterization of Caenorhabditis elegans calcineurin mutants as providing a simple but excellent genetic model system for studying in vivo functions of calcineurin. Calcineurin loss-of-function mutants, cnb-1(lf), and gain-of-function mutants, tax-6(gf), show certain opposite phenotypes as well as some similar phenotypes. In order to explain the phenotypic similarity observed in both loss-of-function and gain-of-function mutants, we examined the proteins that followed similar trends in both mutants relative to wild-type worms by using 2-DE. Interestingly, VHA-13, HSP-6 and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase are down-regulated in both mutants. A total of 96 differentially regulated proteins were identified by MALDI-TOF/MS. Among these, 42 proteins are up-regulated and 54 proteins are down-regulated in calcineurin mutants. Furthermore, knock-down of about 30% of the genes, which are down-regulated in calcineurin mutants, showed some of the phenotypes of calcineurin-null mutants. This analysis suggests the functional relevance of these proteins to calcineurin activity in C. elegans.
Ahn
Do-Hwan
DH
Department of Biological Sciences, Bio/Molecular Informatics Center and Institute of Biomedical Science and Technology, Konkuk University, Seoul, Korea.
Singaravelu
Gunasekaran
G
Lee
Sooung
S
Ahnn
Joohong
J
Shim
Yhong-Hee
YH
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D037282:Calreticulin / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015180:Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D010449:Peptide Mapping; D010641:Phenotype; D040901:Proteomics; D019032:Spectrometry, Mass, Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption-Ionization
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D037282:Calreticulin