Department of Zoophysiology, Zoological Institute, University of Kiel, Olshausenstrasse 40, Kiel, Germany.
Dev Comp Immunol. 2012 Sep;38(1):181-6. doi: 10.1016/j.dci.2012.05.007. Epub 2012 Jun 5.
Caenopores belong to the saposin-like protein superfamily in Caenorhabditis elegans with 33 putative antimicrobial and pore-forming proteins. In this study, we analysed one selected member of this multifarious protein family, namely SPP-3, in detail, as its coding gene has been described to be inducible after bacterial challenge. The recombinant protein was antimicrobially active against a wide range of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria and displayed membrane-permeabilizing and pH-dependent pore-forming activity. Promoter activity of the respective gene, spp-3, was localized to the intestine and the head neuron SDQR. While gene silencing had no apparent effect on the number of surviving Escherichia coli bacteria in the intestine, it increased the egg laying significantly. Accordingly, SPP-3 is a protein with antimicrobial activity that is presumably part of the redundant armamentarium of effector proteins in the worm's intestine, may help to protect neurons, and appears to be involved in regulating reproduction.
类钙粘蛋白属于秀丽隐杆线虫中的 saposin 样蛋白超家族，具有 33 种假定的抗菌和形成孔蛋白。在这项研究中，我们详细分析了这个多样化蛋白家族的一个选定成员，即 SPP-3，因为其编码基因在受到细菌挑战后被描述为可诱导。重组蛋白对多种革兰氏阴性和革兰氏阳性细菌具有抗菌活性，并显示出膜通透性和 pH 依赖性的孔形成活性。相应的 spp-3 基因的启动子活性定位于肠道和头部神经元 SDQR。虽然基因沉默对肠道中存活的大肠杆菌数量没有明显影响，但它显著增加了产卵。因此，SPP-3 是一种具有抗菌活性的蛋白质，可能是蠕虫肠道中冗余效应蛋白武器库的一部分，有助于保护神经元，并可能参与调节生殖。
