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Genes to Cells (2007) 12, 1063-1073. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2443.2007.01108.x
© 2007 Blackwell Publishing or its licensors

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ER E3 ubiquitin ligase HRD-1 and its specific partner chaperone BiP play important roles in ERAD and developmental growth in Caenorhabditis elegans

Yohei Sasagawa, Kunitoshi Yamanaka* and Teru Ogura

Division of Molecular Cell Biology, Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics, Kumamoto University, 2-2-1 Honjo, Kumamoto 860-0811, Japan


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
p97 (also called VCP or Cdc48p) and E3 ubiquitin ligases are the key players in retrotranslocation and ubiquitination of substrates in the endoplasmic reticulum-associated degradation (ERAD) pathways. Although their biochemical properties have been well studied, their cellular functions in development have not been revealed. Here, we investigate cellular functions of p97 and E3 ubiquitin ligases in Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. We found that C. elegans possesses three E3 ubiquitin ligases (named as HRD-1, HRDL-1 and MARC-6) like mammals, and that their simultaneous depletion caused extremely delayed growth. By monitoring the expression of an ER chaperone gene, it was revealed that p97 and HRD-1 play essential roles in unfolded protein response (UPR) and ERAD pathways. We further found that HRD-1 functions in concert with BiP, and that two BiP paralogues are functionally diversified. HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-3) play important roles in the developmental growth and function of intestinal cells, while HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-4) in the gonad formation. We propose that E3 ubiquitin ligases function in concert with a specific partner chaperone.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
Many proteins of eukaryotic cells undergo folding and modification in the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). During these processes, mis-folded proteins and unassembled protein complexes are first retrotranslocated into the cytosol and are eventually degraded by the proteasome. This multi-step process is called ER-associated degradation (ERAD) (Römisch 2005). Recent studies revealed that many factors (p97/VCP/Cdc48p, Ufd1, Npl4, E3 ubiquitin ligases, Derlin-1, -2, and -3, VIMP, Ubx2, etc) are involved in ERAD (Ye et al. 2001, 2004, 2005; Lilley & Ploegh 2004, 2005; Neuber et al. 2005; Schuberth & Buchberger 2005; Mouysset et al. 2006; Oda et al. 2006).

p97 is one of the best characterized members of the AAA (ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities) family and forms a complex with Npl4 and Ufd1 subunits, which are essential for ERAD function of p97 (Ye et al. 2001; Mouysset et al. 2006; Ye 2006). In concert with ubiquitination by ER-membrane resident E3 ubiquitin ligases, p97 extracts ERAD substrates from the ER to the cytosol using energy produced by p97-catalyzed ATP hydrolysis. Several reports have demonstrated that E3 ubiquitin ligases (Hrd1, gp78 and Doa10p) directly associate with p97 (Zhong et al. 2004; Ye et al. 2005; Carvalho et al. 2006). Extracted and ubiquitinated substrates will be transferred to the 26S proteasome through Ufd2 and Rad23. Rpn10 and Rpt5 subunits of the proteasome are receptors for ubiquitinated substrates. Thus, the interaction between p97 and E3 ubiquitin ligases may lead to efficiently couple ubiquitination with retrotranslocation and degradation of ERAD substrates.

Ubiquitination of ERAD substrates appears to take place at the cytosolic face of the ER membrane during or prior to retrotranslocation to the cytosol (Hampton 2002; Ye et al. 2005). In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, there are two ER-membrane resident E3 ubiquitin ligases Hrd1p/Der3p and Doa10p/Ssm4p (Bays et al. 2001; Deak & Wolf 2001; Swanson et al. 2001; Hampton 2002; Römisch 2005; Gauss et al. 2006; Ravid et al. 2006). It has been recently proposed that two distinct protein complexes containing a specific E3 ubiquitin ligase at the ER membrane are responsible for the recognition and degradation of specific subsets of protein substrates (Huyer et al. 2004; Vashist & Ng 2004; Carvalho et al. 2006; Denic et al. 2006). A complex containing Hrd1p catalyzes ubiquitination of ERAD substrates with lesions, which are surveyed by ER chaperone BiP, in the lumen or membrane-spanning region. On the other hand, the other complex containing Doa10p ubiquitinates transmembrane ERAD substrates with lesions in the cytosolic domain, which are surveyed by the cytosolic Hsp70 chaperone Ssa1p and the Hsp40 co-chaperones Ydj1p and Hlj1p.

Although many ERAD components have been identified and their biochemical properties have been revealed, their cellular functions have not been well understood. Here, we investigated their cellular functions in Caenorhabditis elegans as a model organism. By monitoring the expression of an ER chaperone gene and analyzing phenotypes of mutant worms of p97 and E3 ubiquitin ligases, we found that p97 and the E3 ubiquitin ligase HRD-1 play essential roles in unfolded protein response (UPR) and ERAD pathways. We further found that HRD-1 functions in concert with the ER resident chaperone BiP in growth and organ development, and that two BiP homologues of C. elegans are functionally diversified.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
Involvement of p97 in UPR and ERAD

Caenorhabditis elegans possesses two genes, cdc-48.1 and cdc-48.2, encoding p97 of 88% identity over the entire protein and both homologues are essential for embryogenesis in a redundant manner (Yamanaka et al. 2004). To analyze effects of simultaneous disruption of two p97 homologues on post-embryonic development, we took advantage of feeding RNAi strategy (Kamath et al. 2001). L1 larvae were fed with E. coli harboring dsRNA-producing plasmids, and worms were analyzed 2 days later. Vector plasmid-harboring E. coli was used for feed as a control experiment. As shown in Fig. 1A, dark staining large intestinal granules were observed in p97-depleted worms, while such granules were not observed in control worms. Note that single deletion mutant, either cdc-48.1(tm544) or cdc-48.2(tm659), did not cause such granules (data not shown). Intestinal cells engage in high level secretory protein synthesis, such as digestive enzymes and molting hormones, and are major targets for ER stress in C. elegans (Shen et al. 2001; Calfon et al. 2002), implying that impairment of ERAD by p97 depletion may cause accumulation of secretory proteins in the ER of intestinal cells. It should be mentioned that worms with a blocked UPR have been observed to have such dark staining large intestinal granules (Urano et al. 2002). These results indicate the importance of p97 in UPR and ERAD pathways.


Figure 1
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Figure 1  Effects of p97 depletion on intestine and on the expression of hsp-4::gfp reporter. (A) L1 larvae were used for feeding RNAi and observed after 48 h incubation. Typical DIC micrographs of vector(RNAi) (20 out of 20 analyzed) and cdc-48.1(RNAi);cdc-48.2(RNAi) (17 out of 20 analyzed) are shown. Arrows show some of typical dark staining large granules. (B) Effects of p97 depletion on the expression of hsp4 and on intestine. a: hsp-4::gfp worms, b: hsp-4::gfp worms treated with tunicamycin (25 mg/mL) for 10 h, c: cdc-48.1;hsp-4::gfp worms, d: cdc-48.2;hsp-4::gfp worms. (C) L1 larvae were used for feeding RNAi. Fluorescent micrographs were taken after a 3-day-incubation period. a: hsp-4::gfp worms treated with control RNAi, b: hsp-4::gfp worms treated with RNAi of cdc-48.1 and cdc-48.2, c: ire-1;hsp-4::gfp worms treated with RNAi of cdc-48.1 and cdc-48.2, d: xbp-1;hsp-4::gfp worms treated with RNAi of cdc-48.1 and cdc-48.2. (D) DIC and fluorescent micrographs of vector(RNAi);hsp-4::gfp and cdc-48.1(RNAi);cdc-48.2(RNAi);hsp-4::gfp worms are shown.

 
To further evaluate this notion, we analyzed whether p97 depletion causes UPR. In C. elegans, UPR includes the translational inhibition through activation of PEK-1 and the transcriptional activation of a set of genes, which encode ER-resident chaperones, folding catalysts and protein-degrading complexes, through the IRE-1/XBP-1 signaling pathway (Ma & Hendershot 2001; Shen et al. 2001; Calfon et al. 2002). An UPR induction monitoring system by using an hsp-4::gfp transcriptional reporter has been developed (Calfon et al. 2002). The hsp-4 gene encodes the ER chaperone BiP. The hsp-4::gfp reporter exhibited low basal green fluorescent protein (GFP) expression under the physiological condition, but expression was strongly induced especially in intestine after treatment with ER stress-inducing reagents such as tunicamycin and DTT (Fig. 1B; Calfon et al. 2002). Although either cdc-48.1(tm544) or cdc-48.2(tm659) did not induce the hsp-4::gfp expression (Fig. 1B), the hsp-4::gfp expression was clearly induced especially in intestine when both p97 were depleted simultaneously (Fig. 1C,D; Supplementary Fig. S1), implying that their simultaneous depletion induces UPR. In the presence of either ire-1 or xbp-1 mutation, the hsp-4::gfp induction was abolished (Fig. 1C), indicating that the hsp-4::gfp induction caused by p97 depletion was dependent on the ire-1/xbp-1 signaling pathway. Taken together with notions that p97 is required for the retrotranslocation of unfolded proteins from the ER to the cytosol (Ye et al. 2001) and that the expression of both p97 homologues was increased with the treatment of ER-stress inducing reagent DTT (Yamauchi et al. 2006), our results indicate that p97 plays an important role in UPR as well as ERAD pathways especially in intestine.

Homologues of Hrd1, gp78 and MARCH VI/Doa10p in Caenorhabditis elegans

It has been demonstrated that ER-membrane resident E3 ubiquitin ligases are key components involved in the recognition and ubiquitination of substrates, which may be coupled with the retrotranslocation mediated by p97, in the ERAD pathways (Hampton 2002; Römisch 2005). While yeast possesses two E3 ubiquitin ligases Hrd1p and Doa10p, there are three ligases in mammals, two homologues of Hrd1p, Hrd1 and gp78/AMFR, and a Doa10p homologue TEB4/MARCH VI (Bays et al. 2001; Deak & Wolf 2001; Swanson et al. 2001; Hampton 2002; Zhong et al. 2004; Römisch 2005; Gauss et al. 2006; Kreft et al. 2006; Ravid et al. 2006). There are 152 RING finger proteins in the C. elegans genome (Kipreos 2005). Among them, we found that 16 proteins contain putative transmembrane domains by using the topological prediction program TMHMM version 2.0 <http://www.cbs.dtu.dk/services/TMHMM/> (Krogh et al. 2001). Homology search analysis of these 16 proteins with the amino acid sequences of ER E3 ubiquitin ligases revealed that C. elegans possesses each homologue of Hrd1, gp78 and MARCH VI [named as HRD-1 (F55A11.3), HRDL-1 (F26E4.11) and MARC-6 (F55A3.1), respectively] (Fig. 2A). As shown in Fig. 2B, in addition to the RING finger domain, they also contain multiple membrane-spanning regions (6, 8 and 12 predicted transmembrane domains for HRD-1, HRDL-1 and MARC-6, respectively). The RING finger domain of HRD-1 and HRDL-1 is situated in the C terminal region, while that of MARC-6 exists in the N terminal domain. Furthermore, HRDL-1 contains a CUE motif, which serves as an ubiquitin-binding domain (Zhong et al. 2004). All these characteristic features are well conserved evolutionarily.


Figure 2
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Figure 2  Evolutionarily conserved E3 ubiquitin ligases. (A) Neighbor-joining phylogeny of 16 C. elegans proteins containing putative transmembrane domains and a RING finger domain. Scale bar, amino-acid substitutions per site. (B) Schematic representation of C. elegans HRD-1, HRDL-1 and MARC-6 showing the locations of the putative transmembrane domain (black), the RING finger domain (red) and the CUE domain (blue).

 
Effects of E3 ubiquitin ligase depletion on the growth rate

hrd-1(tm1743) deletion mutant showed a slightly slow growth rate, whereas hrdl-1(gk28) deletion and RNAi depletion of marc-6 did not affect the growth rate (Fig. 3A). We confirmed that marc-6 mRNA was significantly decreased by marc-6 RNAi treatment (Supplementary Fig. S2). Although hrdl-1(gk28) or marc-6(RNAi) was introduced into the hrd-1(tm1743) deletion mutant, the growth rate was not affected (Fig. 3A). However, when all three E3 ubiquitin ligases were simultaneously depleted, the growth rate was greatly reduced (Fig. 3A,B), suggesting that HRD-1, HRDL-1 and MARC-6 play an important redundant role on growth under the physiological condition.


Figure 3
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Figure 3  Effects of depletion of E3 ubiquitin ligases on growth. (A) hrd-1(tm1743) and hrdl-1(gk28) deletion mutations were used. To deplete MARC-6, feeding RNAi was carried out for 48 h. Eggs from each strain were laid on plates for 2 h and analyzed after 72 h. The number of eggs studied is listed above each column. Total worm population was grouped into four fractions (adult, L4, L3 and L1 or L2 stage). Each fraction was plotted as the percentage of total eggs laid (Y axis). (B) Photomicrographs obtained 72 h after lay of populations of vector(RNAi) and hrd-1(tm1743);hrdl-1(gk28);marc-6(RNAi) strains. (C) Eggs from each strain were laid on plates containing 5 mM DTT or 5 µM thapsigargin for 2 h and analyzed after 72 h.

 
We then tested effects of E3 ubiquitin ligase depletion on the growth rate under the stress condition by adding ER stress inducing reagents (Fig. 3C). DTT, which is a reducing reagent that affects the protein folding environment in the ER as well as the cytosol, greatly reduced growth rate of hrd-1(tm1743) mutant and marc-6(RNAi) worms. Thapsigargin, which is an ER membrane Ca2+-ATPase inhibitor, depletes calcium stores and affects the protein folding environment in the ER, slightly affected growth rate of hrd-1(tm1743) mutant. These results suggest that HRD-1 and MARC-6 may take care of the protein folding environment inside and outside of the ER, respectively. It seems to be consistent with the notion that Hrd1p functions in concert with ER resident chaperone BiP, while Doa10p with cytosolic chaperone Ssa1p (Huyer et al. 2004; Vashist & Ng 2004; Carvalho et al. 2006; Denic et al. 2006).

Involvement of E3 ubiquitin ligases in UPR

We next tried to elucidate whether ERAD components of C. elegans are involved in UPR by using the hsp-4::gfp expression monitoring system as described above. The p97 adaptor UFD-1 was clearly involved in UPR in an ire-1-dependent manner (Fig. 4A). This is fully consistent with the results recently reported independently (Mouysset et al. 2006). Depletion of other p97 adaptors or associated factors (UFD-3, ATX-3 and Erasin homologue UBXN-4) did not induce the hsp-4::gfp expression (Fig. 4A; data for ATX-3 and UBXN-4 not shown). These results together strongly indicate that p97-Npl-4-Ufd-1 complex is involved in UPR in an ire-1/xbp-1-dependent manner.


Figure 4
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Figure 4  Effects of depletion of ERAD components on the expression of hsp-4::gfp reporter. (A) Deletion mutations [hrdl-1(gk28), ufd-2(tm1380) and rpn-10(tm1180)] were transferred into hsp-4::gfp worms. For depletion of hrd-1, marc-6, cdc-48.1, cdc-48.2, ufd-1, ufd-3 and rpt-5, L1 larvae of hsp-4::gfp or ire-1;hsp-4::gfp worms were used for feeding RNAi. Fluorescent micrographs were taken after a 3-day-incubation period. (B) hrdl-1(gk28);hsp-4::gfp worms were used for feeding RNAi to deplete hrd-1. For quantitative analysis, Western blotting was performed using anti-GFP monoclonal antibody. Ratio of GFP amounts between with and without hrd-1(RNAi) is shown.

 
Interestingly, hrd-1 RNAi treatment induced the hsp-4::gfp expression in an ire-1-dependent manner, while hrdl-1(gk28) and marc-6(RNAi) did not induce it (Fig. 4A). We confirmed that hrd-1 mRNA and marc-6 mRNA were significantly decreased by hrd-1(RNAi) and marc-6(RNAi), respectively (Supplementary Fig. S2). This is in good agreement with the notion that Hrd1p functions in concert with the ER chaperone BiP (Huyer et al. 2004). Since HRDL-1 is a homologue of HRD-1, we tested the effect of hrd-1 RNAi on the hsp-4::gfp expression in the hrdl-1(gk28) mutant. As shown in Fig. 4B, RNAi depletion of hrd-1 did not cause the enhanced hsp-4::gfp expression in the hrdl-1(gk28) mutant. Taken together with the results that introduction of hrdl-1(gk28) into the hrd-1(tm1173) mutant did not reduce its growth rate, HRD-1 and HRDL-1 are suggested to be functionally independent. Although MARC-6 depletion did not induce the hsp-4::gfp expression (Fig. 4A), it may not be necessary to induce the expression of ER luminal chaperone BiP by the depletion of MARC-6, which is a Doa10p homologue (Huyer et al. 2004; Vashist & Ng 2004; Carvalho et al. 2006; Denic et al. 2006).

ufd-2(tm1380), rpn-10(tm1180) and rpt-5(RNAi) did not induce the hsp-4::gfp expression (Fig. 4A). These results together indicate that ERAD components located upstream of the p97-Npl4-Ufd1 complex in the ERAD pathway are in general involved in UPR, while its downstream components are not. Since downstream components are located in the cytosol and are not specific for ERAD but common for ubiquitin-dependent degradation substrates, it is reasonable to assume that their depletion does not induce the ER chaperone BiP.

Genetic interaction between HRD-1 and BiP

We then examined the relationship between E3 ubiquitin ligases and ER chaperone BiP. In C. elegans, two genes, hsp-3 and hsp-4, encode highly homologous BiP proteins (85% identical, 92% similar). Their expression is regulated in a similar manner (Shen et al. 2001), but their functional diversity is not yet known. We found that hsp-3(ok1083);hsp-4(gk514) double deletion resulted in embryonic lethal, while no detectable defect in growth rate, morphology, fertility and embryogenesis was observed in each of single deletion (Fig. 5A, data not shown), indicating that they are essential and that their function is redundant. We prepared double mutants in combination of E3 ubiquitin ligases with BiP. Only in the case of combination of the HRD-1 deletion and the BiP deletion, clear defects were observed. As expected from results shown in Fig. 4A, expression of endogenous hsp-3 and hsp-4 genes was increased by the HRD-1 deletion (Supplementary Fig. S3). hrd-1(tm1743);hsp-3(ok1083) double mutant showed the extremely slow growth rate (6 days to become adult compared to 3 days for others) and the small body size phenotype (Fig. 5A). Furthermore, it had dark staining large intestinal granules (20 out of 20 analyzed) (Fig. 5B), which is a similar phenotype observed in p97-depleted, UFD-1-depleted or UPR-blocked worms (Figs 1A,D and 5B; Urano et al. 2002). In contrast, hrd-1(tm1743);hsp-4(gk514) mutant did not show these phenotypes (Fig. 5A,B). However, it showed the sterile phenotype (20 out of 20 analyzed), which is also observed in the p97-depleted and UFD-1-depleted worms, caused by the defect of gonad formation (Fig. 5C). It should be noted that expression of hrd-1, hrdl-1 and marc-6 was not affected by the depletion of BiP (Supplementary Fig. S3). These results imply that two kinds of BiP proteins encoded by hsp-3 and hsp-4 are functionally diversified. These results also indicate that HRD-1 and BiP have a genetic interaction, and that HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-3) play important roles in the developmental growth and function of intestinal cells, while HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-4) in the gonad formation.


Figure 5
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Figure 5  Evidence for genetic interaction between HRD-1 and BiP. (A) Photomicrographs obtained 3 days after lay of worms containing indicated mutations. For hrd-1(tm1743);hsp-3(ok1083) mutant, a photomicrograph obtained 6 days after lay is also shown. (B) Intestines of indicated mutant worms were dissected and observed. Arrows show some of typical dark staining large granules. (C) Indicated mutant worms were fixed, stained with DAPI and observed. Arrowhead represents gonad. Scale bar: 0.1 mm in all images.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
In this study, we have demonstrated that depletion of p97 or UFD-1 induced UPR in an manner dependent on IRE-1/XBP-1 mainly in intestine in C. elegans (Figs 1 and 4A) and caused clear defects in intestine, accumulation of dark staining large granules (Figs 1A,D and 5B). It should be noted that intestinal cells engage in high level secretory protein synthesis and are major targets for ER stress in C. elegans (Shen et al. 2001; Calfon et al. 2002; Urano et al. 2002). p97 is able to form a complex with NPL-4-UFD-1 heterodimer and the complex plays an important role in retrotranslocation of ERAD substrates from the ER into the cytosol (Mouysset et al. 2006; Ye 2006). Our results clearly indicate that p97-NPL-4-UFD-1 complex play an important role in the ERAD pathway and its defect causes UPR and intestinal disorder.

It is interesting to mention that proteasomes by themselves were reported to be responsible for retrotranslocation from the ER to the cytosol by means of direct association with the retrograde transport channel (Lee et al. 2004; Kalies et al. 2005; Römisch 2005). However, in our C. elegans system, depletion of RPN-10 and RPT-5, components of the proteasome and receptors for ubiquitinated substrates, did not induce the hsp-4::gfp expression (Fig. 4A), suggesting that proteasomes may not be directly involved in retrotranslocation of mis-folded proteins in C. elegans. Alternatively, there might be another pathway for retrotranslocation even though the proteasome-dependent pathway is blocked.

During or prior to retrotranslocation, ERAD substrates should be ubiquitinated at the cytosolic surface by ER-membrane resident E3 ubiquitin ligases (Hampton 2002; Römisch 2005). In mammals, three such ligases, Hrd-1, gp78/AMFR and TEB4/MARCH-VI, have been identified (Swanson et al. 2001; Hampton 2002; Zhong et al. 2004; Römisch 2005; Kreft et al. 2006). Caenorhabditis elegans was found to possess homologues for them (Fig. 2). We found that HRD-1 but not HRDL-1 and MARC-6 has a genetic interaction with BiP (Fig. 5). This is consistent with recent reports that two distinct protein complexes containing a specific E3 ubiquitin ligase at the ER membrane are responsible for the recognition and degradation of specific subsets of protein substrates (Huyer et al. 2004; Vashist & Ng 2004; Carvalho et al. 2006; Denic et al. 2006). It has been reported that Doa10p functionally interacts with cytosolic chaperone Ssa1p (Huyer et al. 2004). Since MARC-6 is a Doa10p homologue (Fig. 2), it seems likely that MARC-6 may function with an Ssa1 homologue. There is less information on gp78 so far. It is important to elucidate with which chaperone HRDL-1 (C. elegans gp78 homologue) functions. Nevertheless, we would like to propose that each E3 ubiquitin ligase functions in concert with a specific partner chaperone.

There are two BiP homologues, encoded by hsp-3 and hsp-4, in C. elegans and they are essential and functionally redundant (Shen et al. 2001; Calfon et al. 2002). However, their in vivo functions are somewhat diversified, as we observed that HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-3) play important roles in the developmental growth and function of intestinal cells, while HRD-1 and BiP(HSP-4) in the gonad formation. This selectivity may be due to the specifically overlapped tissue distribution of these proteins. Determination of their tissue distribution is important and remains elusive. In the same line, C. elegans uniquely possesses two p97 homologues as described previously (Yamanaka et al. 2004). Therefore, it is interesting to see if there is any specificity between two p97 homologues and three E3 ubiquitin ligases.

Since specific mutant proteins that accumulate as mis-folded proteins and escape degradation may cause various neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, it is likely that ER stress plays an important pathogenetic role in these diseases (Lindholm et al. 2006; Zhao & Ackerman 2006). It is interesting to mention that inclusion body myopathy associated with Paget disease of bone and frontotemporal dementia has been demonstrated to be caused by mutations in p97 (Watts et al. 2004). We have reported that over-expression of p97 was able to significantly suppress the aggregation of expanded polyglutamine tracts (Yamanaka et al. 2004). In addition, it has been recently reported that over-expression of Hrd1 enhanced the degradation of expanded polyglutamine-containing huntingtin in a p97-dependent manner, whereas silencing of endogenous Hrd1 expression by RNA interference stabilized it (Yang et al. 2007). Thus, elucidation of UPR mechanisms and genetic interaction among factors involved in UPR in the model organism will allow us to understand not only the overall regulatory mechanism of the protein quality control system but also human diseases linked to ER stress such as inclusion body myopathy and various neurodegenerative disorders.


    Experimental procedures
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
Caenorhabditis elegans strains

Nematodes were maintained at 20 °C on nutrient growth medium (NGM) agar plates using standard protocols as described previously (Brenner 1974). The deletion mutants of cdc-48.1(tm544), cdc-48.2(tm659), hrd-1(tm1743), ufd-2(tm1380) and rpn-10(tm1180) were kindly supplied from Dr S. Mitani (Tokyo Women's Medical School, Tokyo). Mutant worms SJ4005 hsp-4::gfp(zcls4), SJ30 ire-1(zc14);hsp-4::gfp(zcls4), SJ17 xbp-1(zc12);hsp-4::gfp(zcls4), VC35 hrdl-1(gk28), RB1104 hsp-3(ok1083) and VC1099 hsp-4(gk514) were provided by Caenorhabditis Genetics Center. To exclude unexpected additional mutations, deletion mutants were out-crossed 5 times. The hrdl-1(gk28), hsp-3(ok1083) and hsp-4(gk514) deletion alleles were sequenced and their mutation sites were registered to WormBase <http://www.wormbase.org>. The position and extent of each deletion mutation used in this study are schematically shown in Fig. 6. Males carrying mutations were generated from hermaphrodites of these deletion mutants and were used to transfer the mutation. The deletion alleles were confirmed by PCR with primers spanning the deletion region. hsp-3(ok1083);hsp-4(gk514) and hrd-1(tm1743);hsp-4(gk514) double deletion mutants were maintained as heterozygote. We used segregated double homozygotes.


Figure 6
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Figure 6  Schematic presentation of deletion mutations in cdc-48.1, cdc-48.2, hrd-1, hrdl-1, ufd-2, rpn-10, hsp-3 and hsp-4 genes. Exons are shown in black boxes. The position and extent of each deletion mutation are also shown.

 
Stress treatment

Gravid hermaphrodites were placed on NGM agar plates containing 5 mM DTT or 5 µM thapsigargin for 2 h to lay eggs and then taken out. Plates harboring eggs were incubated at 20 °C for 3 days and growth stage of progeny was determined.

Plasmid construction

To prepare dsRNA-producing plasmids, portions of cDNA of cdc-48.1 (nucleotides 1–440) and cdc-48.2 (nucleotides 73–398) were excised from pCKX39 and pCKX36, respectively (Yamanaka et al. 2004), and cloned into a pLITMUS28 plasmid. Portions of cDNAs for ufd-1 (nucleotides 6–1017), ufd-3 (nucleotides 106–840), hrd-1 (nucleotides 92–776), hrdl-1 (nucleotides 65–955), marc-6 (nucleotides 186–1328) and rpt-5 (nucleotides 1–661) genes were prepared by RT-PCR using total RNA from N2 adult hermaphrodites or yk-plasmids as template with a pair of primers, 5'-CTT CAC TGC AGC GTG GAT ACA ACA AGG ACT TCA CGG GAT G-3' and 5'-CAG TCA GAT CTC AGT GTT CGA TTG CCT CCA CGG AAG AC-3', 5'-GGC TTC TGC AGT TAC TCA AGG CGG ATG CTT GAT ATC-3' and 5'-CAT GTA GAT CTT TGC CTC CAT CTA TTG CCC AAA ATT CAA-3', 5'-CAG TTG GAT CCA TCA ATC GTA TAT CTC TCA AAA AGC AAT GCA AGT ATG-3' and 5'-GAG GAA AGC TTT GTG AAG AGC TCT TAC TGA TTG ATA GAA CGG AC-3', 5'-GAG TGA GAT CTC TAT TAT CCG TGC TTA TGT ACA GGA AG-3' and 5'-TTA GGC TGC AGT TTC CAA TGC GAA ATG GGA AGT AC-3', and 5'-AGC GAA TTC ATG TCG CAA ACA CCA CCG CCA AAA GAC-3' and 5'-CAT GGA TCC TGG TGG TCC ATA CAT GAG CAC AC-3', respectively. Each DNA fragment was cloned into the pLITMUS28 vector.

Feeding RNAi

We employed Optimal Protocol I for feeding RNAi methods as described previously (Kamath et al. 2001). Briefly, dsRNA was produced in E. coli HT115(DE3) strain transformed with the dsRNA-producing plasmid. Isopropyl thio-ß-D-galactoside (1 mM) was added to NGM plates to induce transcription of the dsRNA. L1-staged hermaphrodites carrying an hsp-4::gfp reporter were placed on each RNAi plates for 72 h and observed under an Olympus SZX16 fluorescent microscope.

Microscopic observation

Whole worms were mounted on 1% agarose pads in 1 mg/mL levamisole diluted in M9 buffer. When necessary, chromosome DNA was stained with DAPI. Intestines were dissected in a slide chamber filled with M9 buffer. These samples were observed under an Olympus BX51 microscope equipped with a CCD camera. Adobe Photoshop 6.0 was used for output of images.

Western blotting analysis

Total lysates of worms were resolved on 10% SDS-PAGE and transferred to a nitrocellulose membrane. Signals were detected with the antibody against GFP or actin and quantified using a LAS1000 imager (Fuji Film). The amount of actin was used as loading control.

Phylogenetic analysis

Protein sequences were aligned using CLUSTALW. The phylogeny was constructed with the Neighbour-joining method using PHYLIP and was visualized using TREEVIEW software (Page 1996). Proteins analyzed: C. elegans HRD-1 (F55A11.3) (WP:CE05945), HRDL-1 (F26E4.11) (WP:CE09695), MARC-6 (F55A3.1) (WP:CE37022), H10E21.5 (WP:CE19490), C56A3.4 (WP:CE37961), Y4C6A.3 (WP:CE21299), M110.3 (WP:CE02276), C17E4.3 (WP:CE37199), Y53G8AM.4 (WP:CE25416), ZC13.1 (WP:CE29613), C17H11.6 (WP:CE27704), Y119C1B.5 (WP:CE27234), F58E6.1 (WP:CE25921), C16C10.5 (WP:CE01496), Y47D3B.11 (WP:CE33946) and Y57A10B.1 (WP:CE35688); Homo sapiens Hrd1 (BAC24801 [GenBank] ), gp78 (NP001135) and MARCH VI (NP005876); and S. cerevisiae Hrd1p (CAA99012 [GenBank] ) and Doa10p (P40318 [GenBank] ).


    Acknowledgements
 
We thank Dr S. Mitani and Caenorhabditis Genetics Center for C. elegans strains, Dr Y. Kohara for cDNA clones, Dr M. Esaki for critical reading of this manuscript, Dr S. Yamauchi for valuable comments on RNA analysis, Ms Y. Okubo for technical assistance, and Ms C. Ichinose and Y. Kawata for secretarial assistance. This work was supported in part by grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, Sports and Technology of Japan, and from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.


    Footnotes
 
Communicated by: Keiji Tanaka

* Correspondence: E-mail: yamanaka{at}gpo.kumamoto-u.ac.jp


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Results
 Discussion
 Experimental procedures
 References
 
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Accepted: 11 June 2007




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