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C. elegans SWAN-1 Binds to EGL-9 and Regulates HIF-1- Mediated Resistance to the Bacterial Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1
PLoS Pathogens
  • Zhiyong Shao, Iowa State University
  • Yi Zhang, Iowa State University
  • Qi Ye, Iowa State University
  • Jenifer N. Saldhana, Iowa State University
  • Jo Anne Powell-Coffman, Iowa State University
Document Type
Article
Publication Version
Published Version
Publication Date
8-1-2010
DOI
10.1371/journal.ppat.1001075
Abstract
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a nearly ubiquitous human pathogen, and infections can be lethal to patients with impaired respiratory and immune systems. Prior studies have established that strong loss-of-function mutations in the egl-9 gene protect the nematode C. elegans from P. aeruginosa PAO1 fast killing. EGL-9 inhibits the HIF-1 transcription factor via two pathways. First, EGL-9 is the enzyme that targets HIF-1 for oxygen-dependent degradation via the VHL-1 E3 ligase. Second, EGL-9 inhibits HIF-1-mediated gene expression through a VHL-1-independent mechanism. Here, we show that a loss-offunction mutation in hif-1 suppresses P. aeruginosa PAO1 resistance in egl-9 mutants. Importantly, we find stabilization of HIF-1 protein is not sufficient to protect C. elegans from P. aeruginosa PAO1 fast killing. However, mutations that inhibit both EGL-9 pathways result in higher levels of HIF-1 activity and confer resistance to the pathogen. Using forward genetic screens, we identify additional mutations that confer resistance to P. aeruginosa. In genetic backgrounds that stabilize C. elegans HIF-1 protein, loss-of-function mutations in swan-1 increase the expression of hypoxia response genes and protect C. elegans from P. aeruginosa fast killing. SWAN-1 is an evolutionarily conserved WD-repeat protein belonging to the AN11 family. Yeast two-hybrid and co-immunoprecipitation assays show that EGL-9 forms a complex with SWAN-1. Additionally, we present genetic evidence that the DYRK kinase MBK-1 acts downstream of SWAN-1 to promote HIF-1-mediated transcription and to increase resistance to P. aeruginosa. These data support a model in which SWAN-1, MBK-1 and EGL-9 regulate HIF-1 transcriptional activity and modulate resistance to P. aeruginosa PAO1 fast killing.
Comments

This article is from PLoS Pathogens 6 (2010): e1001075, doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1001075. Posted with permission.

Rights
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Copyright Owner
Zhiyong Shao et al
Language
en
File Format
application/pdf
Citation Information
Zhiyong Shao, Yi Zhang, Qi Ye, Jenifer N. Saldhana, et al.. "C. elegans SWAN-1 Binds to EGL-9 and Regulates HIF-1- Mediated Resistance to the Bacterial Pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa PAO1" PLoS Pathogens Vol. 6 Iss. 8 (2010) p. 1 - 11
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/joanne_powell-coffman/2/