Lifespan decrease in a Caenorhabditis elegans mutant lacking TRX-1, a thioredoxin expressed in ASJ sensory neurons.

Authors: Miranda-Vizuete A; Fierro González JC; Gahmon G; Burghoorn J; Navas P; Swoboda P

Abstract: 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.

Keywords: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans/anatomy & histology/genetics/*physiology; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/genetics/*metabolism; Disulfides/metabolism; Humans; Life Expectancy; Molecular Sequence Data; *Mutation; Neurons, Afferent/*metabolism; RNA Interference; Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics/metabolism; Sequence Alignment; Thioredoxins/genetics/*metabolism
Journal: FEBS letters
Volume: 580
Issue: 2
Pages: 484-90
Date: Jan. 3, 2006
PMID: 16387300


Citation:

Miranda-Vizuete A, Fierro González JC, Gahmon G, Burghoorn J, Navas P, Swoboda P (2006) Lifespan decrease in a Caenorhabditis elegans mutant lacking TRX-1, a thioredoxin expressed in ASJ sensory neurons. FEBS letters 580: 484-90.


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