Oxidative Stress in Caenorhabditis elegans: Protective Effects of Spartin.

Abstract

Troyer syndrome is caused by a mutation in the SPG20 gene, which results in complete loss of expression of the protein spartin. We generated a genetic model of Troyer syndrome in worms to explore the locomotor consequences of a null mutation of the Caenorhabditis elegans SPG20 orthologue, F57B10.9, also known as spg-20. Spg-20 mutants showed decreased length, crawling speed, and thrashing frequency, and had a shorter lifespan than wild-type animals. These results suggest an age-dependent decline in motor function in mutant animals. The drug paraquat was used to induce oxidative stress for 4 days in the animals. We measured survival rate and examined locomotion by measuring crawling speed and thrashing frequency. After 4 days of paraquat exposure, 77% of wild-type animals survived, but only 38% of spg-20 mutant animals survived. Conversely, animals overexpressing spg-20 had a survival rate of 95%. We also tested lifespan after a 1 hour exposure to sodium azide. After a 24 hour recovery period, 87% of wild type animals survived, 57% of spg-20 mutant animals survived, and 82% of animals overexpressing spg-20 survived. In the behavioral assays, spg-20 mutant animals showed a significant decrease in both crawling speed and thrashing frequency compared with wild-type animals. Importantly, the locomotor phenotype for both crawling and thrashing was rescued in animals overexpressing spg-20. The animals overexpressing spg-20 had crawling speeds and thrashing frequencies similar to those of wild-type animals. These data suggest that the protein F57B10.9/SPG-20 might have a protective role against oxidative stress.

• Authors: Timothy Truong, Zachary A Karlinski, Christopher O'Hara, Maleen Cabe, Hongkyun Kim, Joanna C Bakowska
• Journal: PloS one (PLoS One) Vol. 10 Issue 6 Pg. e0130455 ( 2015) ISSN: 1932-6203 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 26114733 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Antioxidants
• Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
• Reactive Oxygen Species
• Paraquat

Topics

• Animals
• Antioxidants (metabolism)
• Caenorhabditis elegans (drug effects, genetics, metabolism)
• Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins (genetics, metabolism)
• Mutation
• Oxidative Stress (drug effects)
• Paraquat (pharmacology)
• Reactive Oxygen Species (metabolism)