Aminophospholipid Translocase Tat-1 Promotes Phosphatidylserine Exposure During C. Elegans Apoptosis.
From: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Current biology : CB
- Publish Date: Jun 2007
- ISSN: 0960-9822
- Volume: 17
- Issue: 11
- Pages: 994-9
- Medium: Print
- Language: English
- Citation (JAMA): Züllig Stephanie, Neukomm Lukas J, Jovanovic Marko, et al. Aminophospholipid Translocase Tat-1 Promotes Phosphatidylserine Exposure During C. Elegans Apoptosis.. Curr. Biol. Jun 2007;17:994-9
Abstract
Phospholipids are distributed asymmetrically across the plasma-membrane bilayer of eukaryotic cells: Phosphatidylserine (PS), phosphatidylethanolamine, and phosphoinositides are predominantly restricted to the inner leaflet, whereas phophatidylcholine and sphingolipids are enriched on the outer leaflet [1, 2]. Exposure of PS on the cell surface is a conserved feature of apoptosis and plays an important role in promoting the clearance of apoptotic cells by phagocytosis [3]. However, the molecular mechanism that drives PS exposure remains mysterious. To address this issue, we studied cell-surface changes during apoptosis in the nematode C. elegans. Here, we show that PS exposure can readily be detected on apoptotic C. elegans cells. We generated a transgenic strain expressing a GFP::Annexin V reporter to screen for genes required for this process. Although none of the known engulfment genes was required, RNAi knockdown of the putative aminophospholipid transporter gene tat-1 abrogated PS exposure on apoptotic cells. tat-1(RNAi) also reduced the efficiency of cell-corpse clearance, suggesting that PS exposure acts as an “eat-me” signal in worms. We propose that tat-1 homologs might also play an important role in PS exposure in mammals.
Mesh Headings (Keywords): Animals, Apoptosis, Biological Markers, Caenorhabditis elegans, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins, Cell Membrane, Cells, Cultured, Embryonic Development, Germ Cells, Green Fluorescent Proteins, Organisms, Genetically Modified, Phosphatidylserines, Phospholipid Transfer Proteins, RNA Interference
Check for Full Text / PubMed Unique Identifier (PMID): 17540571
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