Laboratory of Cellular and Molecular Biology, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, United States of America.
Department of Biology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America.
PLoS Genet. 2022 Nov 16;18(11):e1010273. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1010273. eCollection 2022 Nov.
Animal behavior is influenced by the competing drives to maintain energy and to reproduce. The balance between these evolutionary pressures and how nutrient signaling pathways intersect with mating remains unclear. The nutrient sensor O-GlcNAc transferase, which post-translationally modifies intracellular proteins with a single monosaccharide, is responsive to cellular nutrient status and regulates diverse biological processes. Though essential in most metazoans, O-GlcNAc transferase (ogt-1) is dispensable in Caenorhabditis elegans, allowing genetic analysis of its physiological roles. Compared to control, ogt-1 males had a four-fold reduction in mean offspring, with nearly two thirds producing zero progeny. Interestingly, we found that ogt-1 males transferred sperm less often, and virgin males had reduced sperm count. ogt-1 males were also less likely to engage in mate-searching and mate-response behaviors. Surprisingly, we found normal fertility for males with hypodermal expression of ogt-1 and for ogt-1 strains with catalytic-dead mutations. This suggests OGT-1 serves a non-catalytic function in the hypodermis impacting male fertility and mating behavior. This study builds upon research on the nutrient sensor O-GlcNAc transferase and demonstrates a role it plays in the interplay between the evolutionary drives for reproduction and survival.
动物行为受到维持能量和繁殖的竞争驱动力的影响。这些进化压力之间的平衡以及营养信号通路与交配的交汇方式仍不清楚。营养传感器 O-GlcNAc 转移酶可以在单个单糖上对细胞内蛋白质进行翻译后修饰，它对细胞的营养状态有反应，并调节多种生物过程。尽管 O-GlcNAc 转移酶（ogt-1）在大多数后生动物中是必不可少的，但它在秀丽隐杆线虫中是可有可无的，这使得对其生理作用进行遗传分析成为可能。与对照相比，ogt-1 雄性的平均后代减少了四倍，其中近三分之二的雄性没有产生后代。有趣的是，我们发现 ogt-1 雄性的精子传递频率较低，而处女雄性的精子数量减少。ogt-1 雄性也不太可能参与求偶和求偶反应行为。令人惊讶的是，我们发现表皮表达 ogt-1 的雄性和具有催化失活突变的 ogt-1 品系的雄性具有正常的生育能力。这表明 OGT-1 在繁殖和生存的进化驱动力之间的相互作用中发挥了非催化作用。本研究建立在对营养传感器 O-GlcNAc 转移酶的研究基础上，证明了它在繁殖和生存的进化驱动力之间的相互作用中发挥了作用。
