RESUMO
Apoptosis is an important mechanism for maintaining germ line health. In Caenorhabditis elegans, germ cell apoptosis occurs under normal conditions to sustain gonad homeostasis and oocyte quality. Under stress, germ cell apoptosis can be triggered via different pathways, including the following: (i) the CEP-1/p53 pathway, which induces germ cell apoptosis when animals are exposed to DNA damage; (ii) the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) pathway, which triggers germ cell apoptosis when animals are exposed to heat shock, oxidative stress, or osmotic stress; and (iii) an unknown mechanism that triggers germ cell apoptosis during starvation. Here, we address how starvation induces germ cell apoptosis. Using polysomal profiling, we found that starvation for 6 h reduces the translationally active ribosomes, which differentially affect the mRNAs of the core apoptotic machinery and some of its regulators. During starvation, lin-35/Rb mRNA increases its expression, resulting in the accumulation of this protein. As a consequence, LIN-35 downregulates the expression of the antiapoptotic gene ced-9/Bcl-2. We observed that the reduced translation of ced-9/Bcl-2 mRNA during food deprivation together with its downregulation drastically affects its protein accumulation. We propose that CED-9/Bcl-2 downregulation via LIN-35/Rb triggers germ cell apoptosis in C. elegans in response to starvation.
Assuntos
Apoptose/genética , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Células Germinativas/patologia , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-bcl-2/genética , Proteínas Repressoras/metabolismo , Estresse Fisiológico , Animais , Proteínas Reguladoras de Apoptose/genética , Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/biossíntese , Proteínas de Ligação ao Cálcio/genética , Caspases/genética , Regulação para Baixo , Fatores de Transcrição E2F/genética , Regulação da Expressão Gênica , Proteínas de Membrana/genética , Biossíntese de Proteínas/genética , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas c-bcl-2/biossíntese , Interferência de RNA , RNA Mensageiro/biossíntese , RNA Interferente Pequeno , Proteínas Repressoras/genética , Ribossomos/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição/genéticaRESUMO
Ribosome biogenesis is a pre-requisite for cell growth and proliferation; it is however, a highly regulated process that consumes a great quantity of energy. It requires the coordinated production of rRNA, ribosomal proteins and non-ribosomal factors which participate in the processing and mobilization of the new ribosomes. Ribosome biogenesis has been studied in yeast and animals; however, there is little information about this process in plants. The objective of the present work was to study ribosome biogenesis in maize seeds during germination, a stage characterized for its fast growth, and the effect of insulin in this process. Insulin has been reported to accelerate germination and to induce seedling growth. It was observed that among the first events reactivated just after 3 h of imbibition are the rDNA transcription and the pre-rRNA processing and that insulin stimulates both of them (40-230%). The transcript of nucleolin, a protein which regulates rDNA transcription and pre-rRNA processing, is among the messages stored in quiescent dry seeds and it is mobilized into the polysomal fraction during the first hours of imbibition (6 h). In contrast, de novo ribosomal protein synthesis was low during the first hours of imbibition (3 and 6 h) increasing by 60 times in later stages (24 h). Insulin increased this synthesis (75%) at 24 h of imbibition; however, not all ribosomal proteins were similarly regulated. In this regard, an increase in RPS6 and RPL7 protein levels was observed, whereas RPL3 protein levels did not change even though its transcription was induced. Results show that ribosome biogenesis in the first stages of imbibition is carried out with newly synthesized rRNA and ribosomal proteins translated from stored mRNA.