Open AccessLoss of the seipin gene perturbs eggshell formation inC. elegans
Author(s) -
Xiaofei Bai,
Leng-Jie Huang,
Sheng-Wen Chen,
Benjamin Nebenfuhr,
Brian Wysolmerski,
JanJan Wu,
Sara K. Olson,
Andy Golden,
ChaoWen Wang
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.754
H-Index - 325
eISSN - 1477-9129
pISSN - 0950-1991
DOI - 10.1242/dev.192997
Subject(s) - biology , caenorhabditis elegans , microbiology and biotechnology , mutant , embryonic stem cell , biogenesis , genetics , gene
SEIPIN, an evolutionary conserved protein, plays pivotal roles during lipid droplet (LD) biogenesis and is associated with various human diseases with unclear mechanisms. Here, we analyzed C. elegans mutants deleted of the sole SEIPIN gene, seip-1. Homozygous seip-1 mutants displayed penetrant embryonic lethality, which is caused by the disruption of the lipid-rich permeability barrier, the innermost layer of the C. elegans embryonic eggshell. In C. elegans oocytes and embryos, SEIP-1 is associated with LDs and crucial for controlling LD size and lipid homeostasis. The seip-1 deletion mutants reduced the ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in their embryonic fatty acid pool. Interestingly, dietary supplementation of selected n-6 PUFAs rescued the embryonic lethality and defective permeability barrier. Accordingly, we propose that SEIP-1 may maternally regulate LD biogenesis and lipid homeostasis to orchestrate the formation of the permeability barrier for eggshell synthesis during embryogenesis. A lipodystrophy allele of seip-1 resulted in embryonic lethality as well and could be rescued by PUFA supplementation; these experiments support a great potential of using C. elegans to model SEIPIN-associated human diseases.