RRC ID 51358
Author Boland S, Schmidt U, Zagoriy V, Sampaio JL, Fritsche RF, Czerwonka R, Lübken T, Reimann J, Penkov S, Knölker HJ, Kurzchalia TV.
Title Phosphorylated glycosphingolipids essential for cholesterol mobilization in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Journal Nat Chem Biol
Abstract The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans requires exogenous cholesterol to survive and its depletion leads to early developmental arrest. Thus, tight regulation of cholesterol storage and distribution within the organism is indispensable. Here, we present a novel class of C. elegans phosphorylated glycosphingolipids, phosphoethanolamine glucosylceramides (PEGCs), capable of rescuing larval arrest induced by sterol starvation. We describe the total synthesis of a major PEGC species and demonstrate that the PEGC synthetic counterpart suppresses the dauer-constitutive phenotype of Niemann-Pick C1 (NPC1) and DAF-7/TGF-β mutant worms caused by impaired intracellular sterol trafficking. PEGC biosynthesis depends on functional NPC1 and TGF-β, indicating that these proteins control larval development at least partly through PEGC. Furthermore, glucosylceramide deficiency dramatically reduced PEGC amounts. However, the resulting developmental arrest could be rescued by oversaturation of food with cholesterol. Taken together, these data show that PEGC is essential for C. elegans development through its regulation of sterol mobilization.
Volume 13(6)
Pages 647-654
Published 2017-6-1
DOI 10.1038/nchembio.2347
PII nchembio.2347
PMID 28369040
MeSH Animals Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics Caenorhabditis elegans / growth & development Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism* Cholesterol / metabolism* Chromatography, Liquid Glycosphingolipids / metabolism* Mass Spectrometry Molecular Structure Mutation Phosphorylation
IF 12.587
Times Cited 6
Resource
C.elegans tm1027 tm504