Name: using caenorhabditis elegans to screen for tissue-specific chaperone interactions
Uploaded: 2020-06-07T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Using Caenorhabditis elegans to Screen for Tissue-Specific Chaperone Interactions at JoVE.com

We thank the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR), for some of the nematode strains. Monoclonal antibodies developed by H.F. Epstein were obtained from the Developmental Studies Hybridoma Bank developed under the auspices of the NICHD and maintained by the Department of Biology, University of Iowa. This research was supported by a grant from the Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 278/18) and by a grant from the Israel Ministry of Science &#38; Technology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, General Directorate for Country Promotion, Italian Republic (grant No. 3-14337). We thank members of the Ben-Zvi laboratory for help in preparing this manuscript.

1. Preparation of nematode growth media plates for RNAi
<ol>
	<li>To a 1 L bottle, add 3 g of NaCl, 2.5 g of Bacto-Peptone, 17 g of agar and distilled water up to 1 L and autoclave.</li>
	<li>Cool bottle to 55 &#176;C.</li>
	<li>Add 25 mL of 1 M KH2PO4, pH 6.0, 1 mL of 1 M CaCl2, 1 mL of 1 M MgSO4, and 1 mL of cholesterol solution (Table 1) to make nematode growth media (NGM).</li>
	<li>Add 1 mL of ampicillin (100 mg/mL) and 0.5 mL of 1 M IPTG (Table ...

An integrated picture of the proteostasis network reflecting how it is organized and functions in different metazoan cells and tissues remains lacking. To address this shortcoming, specific information on the interactions of various components of this network, such as molecular chaperones, in specific tissues during the course of development and aging is required. Here, we showed how the use of tissue-specific perturbations enabled us to examine the chaperone network in a given tissue. To explore tissue-specific chaperon...

Cells cope with protein damage by employing quality control machineries that repair, sequester or remove any damaged proteins1,2. Folding and assembly of protein complexes are supported by molecular chaperones, a diverse group of highly conserved proteins that can repair or sequester damaged proteins3,4,5,6,7. The removal of damaged proteins is mediated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS)8 or by the autophagy machinery9 in collaboration with chaperones10,11,12. Protein homeostasis (proteostasis) is, therefore, maintained by quality control networks composed of folding and degradation machineries3,13. However, understanding the interactions between the various components of the proteostasis network in vivo is a major challenge. While protein-protein interaction screens contribute important information on physical interactions and chaperone complexes14,15, understanding the organization and compensatory mechanisms within tissue-specific chaperone networks in vivo is lacking.
Genetic interactions are often used as a powerful tool to examine relationship between pairs of genes that are involved in common or compensatory biological pathways16,17,18. Such relationships can be measured by combining pairs of mutations and quantifying the impact of a mutation in one gene on the phenotypic severity caused by a mutation in the second gene16. While most such combinations do not show any effect in terms of phenotype, some genetic interactions can either aggravate or alleviate the severity of the measured phenotype. Aggravating mutations are observed when the phenotype of the double deletion mutant is more severe than the expected phenotype seen upon combining the single deletion mutants, implying that the two genes function in parallel pathways, together affecting a given function. In contrast, alleviating mutations are observed when the phenotype of the double deletion mutant is less severe than the phenotype seen with the single deletion mutants, implying that the two genes act together as a complex or participate in the same pathway16,18. Accordingly, diverse phenotypes that can be quantified, including broad phenotypes, such as lethality, growth rates and brood size, as well as specific phenotypes, such as transcriptional reporters, have been used to identify genetic interactions. For example, Jonikas et al. relied on an ER stress reporter to examine interactions of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae ER unfolded protein response proteostasis network using pairwise gene deletion analyses19.
Genetic interaction screens involve systematically crossing pairwise deletion mutations to generate a comprehensive set of double mutants20. However, in animal models, and specifically in C. elegans, this large-scale approach is not feasible. Instead, mutant strains can be tested for their genetic interaction patterns by down-regulating gene expression using RNA interference (RNAi)21. C. elegans is a powerful system for screens based on RNAi22,23. In C. elegans, double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) delivery is achieved by bacterial feeding, leading to the spread of dsRNA molecules to numerous tissues. In this manner, the introduced dsRNA molecules impact the animal via a rapid and simple procedure21. A genetic interaction screen using RNAi can, therefore, reveal the impact of down-regulating a set of genes or most C. elegans coding genes using RNAi libraries24. In such a screen, hits that impact the behavior of the mutant of interest but not the wild type strain are potential modifiers of the phenotype being monitored25. Here, we apply a combination of mutations and RNAi screening to systematically map tissue-specific chaperone interactions in C. elegans.

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>12-well-plates</td>
			<td>SPL</td>
			<td>BA3D16B</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>40 mm plates</td>
			<td>Greiner Bio-one</td>
			<td>627160</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>60 mm plates</td>
			<td>Greiner Bio-one</td>
			<td>628102</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>6-well plates</td>
			<td>Thermo Scientific</td>
			<td>140675</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>96 well 2 mL 128.0/85mm</td>
			<td>Greiner Bio-one</td>
			<td>780278</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Agar</td>
			<td>Formedium</td>
			<td>AGA03</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Ampicillin</td>
			<td>Formedium</td>
			<td>69-52-3</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>bromophenol blue</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>BO126-25G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>CaCl2</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>1.02382.0500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Camera</td>
			<td>Qimaging</td>
			<td>q30548</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cholesterol</td>
			<td>Amresco</td>
			<td>0433-250G</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Confocal</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>DM5500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Filter (0.22 &#181;m)</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>SCGPUO2RE</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Fluorescent stereomicroscope</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>MZ165FC</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Glycerol</td>
			<td>Frutarom</td>
			<td>2355519000024</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>IPTG</td>
			<td>Formedium</td>
			<td>367-93-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KCl</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>104936</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KH2PO4</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>1.04873.1000</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>KOH</td>
			<td>Bio-Lab</td>
			<td>001649029100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MgSO4</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>22189-08-8</td>
			<td>Gift from the Morimoto laboratory</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Myosin MHC A (MYO-3) antibody</td>
			<td>Hybridoma Bank</td>
			<td>5-6</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Na2HPO4&#183;7H2O</td>
			<td>Sigma</td>
			<td>s-0751</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>NaCl</td>
			<td>Bio-Lab</td>
			<td>001903029100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Peptone</td>
			<td>Merck</td>
			<td>61930705001730</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Plate pouring pump</td>
			<td>Integra</td>
			<td>does it p920</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNAi Chaperone library</td>
			<td>NA</td>
			<td>NA</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>SDS</td>
			<td>VWR Life Science</td>
			<td>0837-500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>&#223;-mercaptoethanol</td>
			<td>Bio world</td>
			<td>41300000-1</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>stereomicroscope</td>
			<td>Leica</td>
			<td>MZ6</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tetracycline</td>
			<td>Duchefa Biochemie</td>
			<td>64-75-5</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tris</td>
			<td>Bio-Lab</td>
			<td>002009239100</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Tween-20</td>
			<td>Fisher</td>
			<td>BP337-500</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

using caenorhabditis elegans to screen for tissue-specific chaperone interactions

Correct folding and assembly of proteins and protein complexes are essential for cellular function. Cells employ quality control pathways that correct, sequester or eliminate damaged proteins to maintain a healthy proteome, thus ensuring cellular proteostasis and preventing further protein damage. Because of redundant functions within the proteostasis network, screening for detectable phenotypes using knockdown or mutations in chaperone-encoding genes in the multicellular organism Caenorhabditis elegans results in the detection of minor or no phenotypes in most cases. We have developed a targeted screening strategy to identify chaperones required for a specific function and thus bridge the gap between phenotype and function. Specifically, we monitor novel chaperone interactions using RNAi synthetic interaction screens, knocking-down chaperone expression, one chaperone at a time, in animals carrying a mutation in a chaperone-encoding gene or over-expressing a chaperone of interest. By disrupting two chaperones that individually present no gross phenotype, we can identify chaperones that aggravate or expose a specific phenotype when both perturbed. We demonstrate that this approach can identify specific sets of chaperones that function together to modulate the folding of a protein or protein complexes associated with a given phenotype.

Using temperature-sensitive mutations in UNC-45 to screen for aggravating or alleviating interactions under permissive or restrictive conditions, respectively 
Muscle assembly and maintenance offer an effective system to study tissue-specific chaperone interactions. The functional unit of contractile muscles, the sarcomere, presents a crystalline-like arrangement of structural and regulatory proteins. The stability of the motor protein myosin and its incorporation into the thick filaments of contrac...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Using Caenorhabditis elegans to Screen for Tissue-Specific Chaperone Interactions at JoVE.com

Using Caenorhabditis elegans to Screen for Tissue-Specific Chaperone Interactions

To study chaperone-chaperone and chaperone-substrate interactions, we perform synthetic interaction screens in Caenorhabditis elegans using RNA interference in combination with mild mutations or over-expression of chaperones and monitor tissue-specific protein dysfunction at the organismal level.

Using Caenorhabditis elegans to Screen for Tissue-Specific Chaperone Interactions

Correct folding and assembly of proteins and protein complexes are essential for cellular function. Cells employ quality control pathways that correct, ...

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