Laboratory of Biomolecular Science, Department of Pharmaceutical Life Sciences, Kitasato University, Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Mol Cell Biol. 2012 May;32(10):1967-83. doi: 10.1128/MCB.06513-11. Epub 2012 Mar 5.
Recent investigations have shown that a variety of D-amino acids are present in living organisms and that they possibly play important roles in physiological functions in the body. D-Amino acid oxidase (DAO) and D-aspartate oxidase (DDO) are degradative enzymes stereospecific for D-amino acids. They have been identified in various organisms, including mammals and the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, although the significance of these enzymes and the relevant functions of D-amino acids remain to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the spatiotemporal localization of C. elegans DAO and DDOs (DDO-1, DDO-2, and DDO-3) and measured the levels of several D- and L-amino acids in wild-type C. elegans and four mutants in which each gene for DAO and the DDOs was partially deleted and thereby inactivated. Furthermore, several phenotypes of these mutant strains were characterized. The results reported in this study indicate that C. elegans DAO and DDOs are involved in egg-laying events and the early development of C. elegans. In particular, DDOs appear to play important roles in the development and maturation of germ cells. This work provides novel and useful insights into the physiological functions of these enzymes and D-amino acids in multicellular organisms.
最近的研究表明，各种 D-氨基酸存在于生物体中，它们可能在体内的生理功能中发挥重要作用。D-氨基酸氧化酶 (DAO) 和 D-天冬氨酸氧化酶 (DDO) 是 D-氨基酸的立体特异性降解酶。它们已在各种生物体中被鉴定出来，包括哺乳动物和线虫秀丽隐杆线虫，尽管这些酶的意义和相关 D-氨基酸的功能仍有待阐明。在这项研究中，我们研究了秀丽隐杆线虫 DAO 和 DDOs（DDO-1、DDO-2 和 DDO-3）的时空定位，并测量了野生型秀丽隐杆线虫和四个部分缺失每个 DAO 和 DDO 基因的突变体中几种 D-和 L-氨基酸的水平。此外，还对这些突变株的几种表型进行了表征。本研究报告的结果表明，秀丽隐杆线虫 DAO 和 DDO 参与产卵事件和线虫的早期发育。特别是，DDO 似乎在生殖细胞的发育和成熟中发挥重要作用。这项工作为这些酶和 D-氨基酸在多细胞生物中的生理功能提供了新的有用见解。
