Differential expression pattern of the four mitochondrial adenine nucleotide transporter ant genes and their roles during the development of Caenorhabditis elegans.
The adenine nucleotide transporter (ANT) mediates exchange of cytosolic ADP and mitochondrial ATP. Although most species contain more than one ANT family member, it is not known whether their roles in developmental processes are redundant or specific. Here, we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans genome encodes four candidate ant genes (ant-1.1, ant-1.2, ant-1.3, and ant-1.4). We have investigated their spatiotemporal expression patterns and discovered that, whereas ANT-1.1 is a ubiquitously expressed mitochondrial protein, the other three ANT proteins show a restricted range of cell type expression. Moreover, only the disruption of ant-1.1 function, through RNA interference (RNAi), gives a mutant phenotype. Most of the ant-1.1(RNAi) mutant embryos arrest before the morphogenesis stage. Furthermore, ant-1.1 is also required postembryonically because RNAi mutants exhibit small size and life-span extension. Our results suggest that ant-1.1 is the only ant gene strictly required for embryonic and postembryonic development in C. elegans.
Farina
Francesca
F
Université Paris-Sud 11, CNRS UMR8621, Institut de Génétique et Microbiologie, Orsay Cedex, France.
Alberti
Adriana
A
Breuil
Norman
N
Bolotin-Fukuhara
Monique
M
Pinto
Moïse
M
Culetto
Emmanuel
E
D033741:Adenine Nucleotide Translocator 1 / Q000378:metabolism*; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D015870:Gene Expression; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D006801:Humans; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism*; D008954:Models, Biological; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010455:Peptides / Q000737:chemistry; D034622:RNA Interference; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D033741:Adenine Nucleotide Translocator 1; D010455:Peptides