RESUMO
Prolonged cellular hypoxia results in energy failure and ultimately cell death. However, less-severe hypoxia can induce a cytoprotective response termed hypoxic preconditioning (HP). The unfolded protein response pathway (UPR) has been known for some time to respond to hypoxia and regulate hypoxic sensitivity; however, the role of the UPR, if any, in HP essentially has been unexplored. We have shown previously that a sublethal hypoxic exposure of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans induces a protein chaperone component of the UPR (L. L. Anderson, X. Mao, B. A. Scott, and C. M. Crowder, Science 323:630-633, 2009). Here, we show that HP induces the UPR and that the pharmacological induction of misfolded proteins is itself sufficient to stimulate a delayed protective response to hypoxic injury that requires the UPR pathway proteins IRE-1, XBP-1, and ATF-6. HP also required IRE-1 but not XBP-1 or ATF-6; instead, GCN-2, which is known to suppress translation and induce an adaptive transcriptional response under conditions of UPR activation or amino acid deprivation, was required for HP. The phosphorylation of the translation factor eIF2α, an established mechanism of GCN-2-mediated translational suppression, was not necessary for HP. These data suggest a model where hypoxia-induced misfolded proteins trigger the activation of IRE-1, which along with GCN-2 controls an adaptive response that is essential to HP.
Assuntos
Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/química , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Hipóxia/metabolismo , Dobramento de Proteína , Fatores de Transcrição/química , Fatores de Transcrição/metabolismo , Resposta a Proteínas não Dobradas , Animais , Animais Geneticamente Modificados , Sequência de Bases , Caenorhabditis elegans/efeitos dos fármacos , Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Caenorhabditis elegans/metabolismo , Proteínas de Caenorhabditis elegans/genética , Primers do DNA/genética , Genes de Helmintos , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/química , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/genética , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/metabolismo , Precondicionamento Isquêmico , Modelos Biológicos , Mutação , Dobramento de Proteína/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/química , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/genética , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/química , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/metabolismo , Fatores de Transcrição/genética , Tunicamicina/farmacologia , Resposta a Proteínas não Dobradas/efeitos dos fármacosRESUMO
The unique physiology and function of neurons create differences in their cellular physiology, including their regulation of gene expression. We began several years ago exploring the relationships between the NFkappaB transcription factor, neuronal survival, and glutamate receptor activation in telencephalic neurons. These studies led us to conclude that this population of cells is nearly incapable of activating the NFkappaB that is nonetheless expressed at reasonable levels. A subset of the kappaB cis elements are instead bound by members of the Sp1 family in neurons. Also surprising was our discovery that Sp1 itself, typically described as ubiquitous, is severely restricted in expression within forebrain neurons; Sp4 seems to be substituted during neuronal differentiation. These findings and their implications for neuronal differentiation--as well as potential dedifferentiation during degenerative processes--are discussed here.
