Bidirectional transfer of a small membrane-impermeable molecule between the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine and germline.

ABSTRACT: The extracellular signal-regulated kinase/mitogen-activated protein kinase (ERK/MAPK) is a positive regulator of cell proliferation often upregulated in cancer. Its Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog MPK-1 stimulates germline stem cell (GSC) proliferation nonautonomously from the intestine or somatic gonad. How MPK-1 can perform this task from either of these two tissues however remains unclear. We reasoned that somatic MPK-1 activity could lead to the generation of proproliferative small molecules that could transfer from the intestine and/or somatic gonad to the germline. Here, in support of this hypothesis, we demonstrate that a significant fraction of the small membrane-impermeable fluorescent molecule, 5-carboxyfluorescein, transfers to the germline after its microinjection in the animal

SUBMITTER: Turmel-Couture S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11647508 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature