Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor
Abstract Nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are a deeply-conserved superfamily of metazoan transcription factors, which fine-tune the expression of their regulatory target genes in response to a plethora of sensory inputs. In nematodes, NHRs underwent an explosive expansion and many species have hundr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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BMC
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Zoological Letters |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40851-024-00227-y |
| _version_ | 1797258944449609728 |
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| author | Tobias Theska Tess Renahan Ralf J. Sommer |
| author_facet | Tobias Theska Tess Renahan Ralf J. Sommer |
| author_sort | Tobias Theska |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are a deeply-conserved superfamily of metazoan transcription factors, which fine-tune the expression of their regulatory target genes in response to a plethora of sensory inputs. In nematodes, NHRs underwent an explosive expansion and many species have hundreds of nhr genes, most of which remain functionally uncharacterized. However, recent studies have reported that two sister receptors, Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40, are crucial regulators of feeding-structure morphogenesis in the diplogastrid model nematode Pristionchus pacificus. In the present study, we functionally characterize Ppa-NHR-10, the sister paralog of Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40, aiming to reveal whether it too regulates aspects of feeding-structure development. We used CRISPR/CAS9-mediated mutagenesis to create small frameshift mutations of this nuclear receptor gene and applied a combination of geometric morphometrics and unsupervised clustering to characterize potential mutant phenotypes. However, we found that Ppa-nhr-10 mutants do not show aberrant feeding-structure morphologies. Instead, multiple RNA-seq experiments revealed that many of the target genes of this receptor are involved in lipid catabolic processes. We hypothesized that their mis-regulation could affect the survival of mutant worms during starvation, where lipid catabolism is often essential. Indeed, using novel survival assays, we found that mutant worms show drastically decreased starvation resistance, both as young adults and as dauer larvae. We also characterized genome-wide changes to the transcriptional landscape in P. pacificus when exposed to 24 h of acute starvation, and found that Ppa-NHR-10 partially regulates some of these responses. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Ppa-NHR-10 is broadly required for starvation resistance and regulates different biological processes than its closest paralogs Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:01:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-6cb335e86da044778f12f635949db245 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2056-306X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T23:01:35Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Zoological Letters |
| spelling | doaj.art-6cb335e86da044778f12f635949db2452024-03-17T12:41:47ZengBMCZoological Letters2056-306X2024-03-0110112210.1186/s40851-024-00227-yStarvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptorTobias Theska0Tess Renahan1Ralf J. Sommer2Department for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology, TübingenDepartment for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology, TübingenDepartment for Integrative Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Institute for Biology, TübingenAbstract Nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are a deeply-conserved superfamily of metazoan transcription factors, which fine-tune the expression of their regulatory target genes in response to a plethora of sensory inputs. In nematodes, NHRs underwent an explosive expansion and many species have hundreds of nhr genes, most of which remain functionally uncharacterized. However, recent studies have reported that two sister receptors, Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40, are crucial regulators of feeding-structure morphogenesis in the diplogastrid model nematode Pristionchus pacificus. In the present study, we functionally characterize Ppa-NHR-10, the sister paralog of Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40, aiming to reveal whether it too regulates aspects of feeding-structure development. We used CRISPR/CAS9-mediated mutagenesis to create small frameshift mutations of this nuclear receptor gene and applied a combination of geometric morphometrics and unsupervised clustering to characterize potential mutant phenotypes. However, we found that Ppa-nhr-10 mutants do not show aberrant feeding-structure morphologies. Instead, multiple RNA-seq experiments revealed that many of the target genes of this receptor are involved in lipid catabolic processes. We hypothesized that their mis-regulation could affect the survival of mutant worms during starvation, where lipid catabolism is often essential. Indeed, using novel survival assays, we found that mutant worms show drastically decreased starvation resistance, both as young adults and as dauer larvae. We also characterized genome-wide changes to the transcriptional landscape in P. pacificus when exposed to 24 h of acute starvation, and found that Ppa-NHR-10 partially regulates some of these responses. Taken together, these results demonstrate that Ppa-NHR-10 is broadly required for starvation resistance and regulates different biological processes than its closest paralogs Ppa-NHR-1 and Ppa-NHR-40.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40851-024-00227-yNuclear receptorPhenotypic plasticityStarvation resistanceNematodePristionchus pacificus |
| spellingShingle | Tobias Theska Tess Renahan Ralf J. Sommer Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor Zoological Letters Nuclear receptor Phenotypic plasticity Starvation resistance Nematode Pristionchus pacificus |
| title | Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| title_full | Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| title_fullStr | Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| title_full_unstemmed | Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| title_short | Starvation resistance in the nematode Pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| title_sort | starvation resistance in the nematode pristionchus pacificus requires a conserved supplementary nuclear receptor |
| topic | Nuclear receptor Phenotypic plasticity Starvation resistance Nematode Pristionchus pacificus |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40851-024-00227-y |
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