RBm?TX14 Increases the Life Span and Promotes the Locomotion of Caenorhabditis Elegans.

ABSTRACT: 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. rBm?TX14 is an ?-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 rBm?TX14 using the Caenorhabditis elegans model. Using western blot analysis, rBm?TX14 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 rBm?TX14 retained its biological structures. Next, feeding nematodes with E.coli Rosetta (DE3) expressing rBm?TX14 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 H15 of rBm?TX14 was mutated, rBm?TX14 no longer promoted the C. elegans life span. In conclusion, the results not only demonstrated the functions and mechanism of rBm?TX14 in C. elegans, but also provided the new sight in the utility of recombinant peptides from scorpion venom.

SUBMITTER: Chen L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5017660 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature