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A P‐glycoprotein protects Caenorhabditis elegans against natural toxins.
Author(s) -
Broeks A.,
Janssen H.W.,
Calafat J.,
Plasterk R.H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb07178.x
Subject(s) - biology , caenorhabditis elegans , glycoprotein , p glycoprotein , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , gene , multiple drug resistance , antibiotics
P‐glycoproteins can cause resistance of mammalian tumor cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. They belong to an evolutionarily well‐conserved family of ATP binding membrane transporters. Four P‐glycoprotein gene homologs have been found in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; this report describes the functional analysis of two. We found that PGP‐3 is expressed in both the apical membrane of the excretory cell and in the apical membrane of intestinal cells, whereas PGP‐1 is expressed only in the apical membrane of the intestinal cells and the intestinal valve. By transposon‐mediated deletion mutagenesis we generated nematode strains with deleted P‐glycoprotein genes and found that the pgp‐3 deletion mutant, but not the pgp‐1 mutant, is sensitive to both colchicine and chloroquine. Our results suggest that soil nematodes have P‐glycoproteins to protect themselves against toxic compounds made by plants and microbes in the rhizosphere.