FUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF FATTY ACID AND RETINOL BINDING PROTEINS (FAR) IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

JOSE FRANCISCO LOMBARDO; BETINA CORSICO; COLLETTE BRITTON; GISELA FRANCHINI

Rosario

Congreso; Second Latin American Worm Meeting; 2020

Universidad Nacional de Rosario

Fatty Acid and Retinol Binding Proteins (FAR) are found exclusively innematodes and are conserved in both free-living and parasitic species wherethey are found in the excretory/secretory products. These proteins are hypothesized to participate in the acquisition ofnutrients from their host, required for development and/or to manipulatehost defense mechanisms, but their specific functions are still unknown. Eight FAR genes are present in Caenorhabditiselegans and we have previously demonstrated a close phylogeneticrelationship between them and FAR proteins found in parasitic nematodes. The ultimate goal of this project is to gain insight into thebiological functions of these proteins in C. elegans and analyze their potentialuse as therapeutic and diagnostic targets in parasitic infections. Since geneknockout technology is not currently available for parasitic species wepropose using C. elegans to study the functions of nematode FAR proteinsusing RNA interference (RNAi) gene silencing and genetic mutants todetermine the effects on its development, viability and metabolism. We have performed the silencing of each FAR protein using the rrf-3strain with bacteria carrying specific siRNAs, in normal growth conditions. Inthe case of the FAR 3 knock down an apparently premature internal hatchingwas observed. Moreover, we are starting to analyze the knockout mutantstrains for FAR-2, FAR-4 and FAR-6.