Tat-mediated protein delivery in living Caenorhabditis elegans.
The Tat protein from HIV-1 fused with heterologous proteins traverses biological membranes in a transcellular process called: protein transduction. This has already been successfully exploited in various biological models, but never in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. TAT-eGFP or GST-eGFP proteins were fed to C. elegans worms, which resulted in the specific localization of Tat-eGFP to epithelial intestinal cells. This system represents an efficient tool for transcellular transduction in C. elegans intestinal cells. Indeed, this approach avoids the use of tedious purification steps to purify the TAT fusion proteins and allows for rapid analyses of the transduced proteins. In addition, it may represent an efficient tool to functionally analyze the mechanisms of protein transduction as well as to complement RNAi/KO in the epithelial intestinal system. To sum up, the advantage of this technology is to combine the potential of bacterial expression system and the Tat-mediated transduction technique in living worm.
Delom
Frédéric
F
Department of Surgery, McGill University, Montreal, Que., Canada.
Fessart
Delphine
D
Caruso
Marie-Elaine
ME
Chevet
Eric
E
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000382:microbiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015696:Gene Products, tat / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015202:Protein Engineering / Q000379:methods; D021381:Protein Transport / Q000502:physiology; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014161:Transduction, Genetic / Q000379:methods*
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015696:Gene Products, tat; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins