Inter-organ signalling by HRG-7 promotes systemic haem homeostasis.

ABSTRACT: Growing evidence in vertebrates predicts that cellular haem levels in animals are maintained not only by a cell's internal capacity for haem synthesis in a cell-autonomous manner, but also by an inter-organ haem trafficking network through cell-non-autonomous regulation. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, a genetically and optically amenable animal model for visualizing haem-dependent signalling, we show that HRG-7, a protein with homology to aspartic proteases, mediates inter-organ signalling between the intestine and extra-intestinal tissues. Intestinal HRG-7 functions as a secreted signalling factor during haem starvation in extra-intestinal tissues and is regulated through a DBL-1, homologous to BMP5, dependent signal from neurons. Given the evidence that vertebrate homologues exist for eac

SUBMITTER: Sinclair J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5594749 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature