Using Caenorhabditis elegans to Screen for Tissue-Specific Chaperone Interactions

Summary

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.

Abstract

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.

Introduction

Cells cope with protein damage by employing quality control machineries that repair, sequester or remove any damaged proteins^1,2. Folding and assembly of protein complexes are supported by molecular chaperones, a diverse group of highly conserved proteins that can repair or sequester damaged proteins^3,4,5,6,7. The removal of damaged proteins is mediated by the ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS)⁸ or by the autophagy machinery

Protocol

1. Preparation of nematode growth media plates for RNAi

1. 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.
2. Cool bottle to 55 °C.
3. 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).
4. Add 1 mL of ampicillin (100 mg/mL) and 0.5 mL of 1 M IPTG (Table 1) to make NGM-RNAi solution.
   NOTE: Commonly used HT115(DE3) E. coli bacteria contain an IPTG-inducible T7 DNA polymerase use....

Results

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.......

Discussion

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.......

Materials

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