Affiliation:
1. Institut de Biochimie et Génétique Cellulaires, Université de Bordeaux and CNRS UMR5095, 33077 Bordeaux cedex, France
2. Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas/Junta de Andalucía/Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemical Engineering, 41013 Seville, Spain
Abstract
Abstract
Purine homeostasis is ensured through a metabolic network widely conserved from prokaryotes to humans. Purines can either be synthesized de novo, reused, or produced by interconversion of extant metabolites using the so-called recycling pathway. Although thoroughly characterized in microorganisms, such as yeast or bacteria, little is known about regulation of the purine biosynthesis network in metazoans. In humans, several diseases are linked to purine metabolism through as yet poorly understood etiologies. Particularly, the deficiency in adenylosuccinate lyase (ADSL)—an enzyme involved both in the purine de novo and recycling pathways—causes severe muscular and neuronal symptoms. In order to address the mechanisms underlying this deficiency, we established Caenorhabditis elegans as a metazoan model organism to study purine metabolism, while focusing on ADSL. We show that the purine biosynthesis network is functionally conserved in C. elegans. Moreover, adsl-1 (the gene encoding ADSL in C. elegans) is required for developmental timing, germline stem cell maintenance and muscle integrity. Importantly, these traits are not affected when solely the de novo pathway is abolished, and we present evidence that germline maintenance is linked specifically to ADSL activity in the recycling pathway. Hence, our results allow developmental and tissue specific phenotypes to be ascribed to separable steps of the purine metabolic network in an animal model.
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Cited by
20 articles.
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