Open AccessrBmαTX14 Increases the Life Span and Promotes the Locomotion of Caenorhabditis Elegans
Author(s) -
Lan Chen,
Ju Zhang,
Jie Xu,
Lu Wan,
Kaixuan Teng,
Jin Xiang,
Rui Zhang,
Zebo Huang,
Yongmei Liu,
Wenhua Li,
Xin Liu
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0161847
Subject(s) - caenorhabditis elegans , biology , drosophila melanogaster , venom , recombinant dna , gene , biochemistry
The scorpion has been extensively used in various pharmacological profiles or as food supplies. The exploration of scorpion venom has been reported due to the presence of recombinant peptides. r Bm αTX14 is an α-neurotoxin extracted from the venom gland of the East Asian scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch and can affect ion channel conductance. Here, we investigated the functions of r Bmα TX14 using the Caenorhabditis elegans model. Using western blot analysis, r Bm αTX14 was shown to be expressed both in the cytoplasm and inclusion bodies in the E . coli Rosetta (DE3) strain. Circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that purified r Bm αTX14 retained its biological structures. Next, feeding nematodes with E . coli Rosetta (DE3) expressing r Bm αTX14 caused extension of the life span and promoted the locomotion of the nematodes. In addition, we identified several genes that play various roles in the life span and locomotion of C . elegans through microarray analysis and quantitative real-time PCR. Furthermore, if the amino acid site H 15 of r Bm αTX14 was mutated, r Bm αTX14 no longer promoted the C . elegans life span. In conclusion, the results not only demonstrated the functions and mechanism of r Bm αTX14 in C . elegans , but also provided the new sight in the utility of recombinant peptides from scorpion venom.