IBR   13079
INSTITUTO DE BIOLOGIA MOLECULAR Y CELULAR DE ROSARIO
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
ENDOCANNABINOIDS IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS DAUER DIAPAUSE REGULATION
Autor/es:
CELINA GALLES; DIEGO DE MENDOZA
Lugar:
Rosario
Reunión:
Congreso; SAIB 50th Annual Meeting; 2014
Institución organizadora:
Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Resumen:
The most studied endocannabinoids (eCBs) in mammals, anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), are produced from membrane phospholipids after cell stimulation and immediately released to target their canonical receptors. These metabolites have been detected in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, as well as some of the enzymes responsible for their synthesis and degradation. However, no eCB receptors have been identified in this organism. In addition, one of C. elegans most striking characteristics is its ability to carry out an alternative life cycle in hostile environments, where development into an extremely resistant and long-lived larva, known as dauer larva, takes place. We have determined that lipid starvation produced by reduction of de novo synthesis of fatty acids (FAs) induces the entry of C. elegans daf-7(e1372) mutant strain into the dauer state. Importantly, administration of exogenous eCBs can bring the nematode out of this phase, presumably because these molecules provide a signal that reverses the adaptation to reduced FA synthesis that leads to dauer formation. The finding that eCBs could be reproductive growth promoters provides a unique tool for understanding the molecular logic of eCB signaling in this animal model organism, where eCBs appears to be linking lipid metabolism with regulatory mechanisms concerning postembryonic development and longevity.