rBmαTX14 Increases the Life Span and Promotes the Locomotion of Caenorhabditis Elegans

Abstract

The scorpion has been extensively used in various pharmacological profiles or as food supplies. The exploration of scorpion venom has been reported due to the presence of recombinant peptides. rBmαTX14 is an α-neurotoxin extracted from the venom gland of the East Asian scorpion Buthus martensii Karsch and can affect ion channel conductance. Here, we investigated the functions of rBmαTX14 using the Caenorhabditis elegans model. Using western blot analysis, rBmαTX14 was shown to be expressed both in the cytoplasm and inclusion bodies in the E.coli Rosetta (DE3) strain. Circular dichroism spectroscopy analysis demonstrated that purified rBmαTX14 retained its biological structures. Next, feeding nematodes with E.coli Rosetta (DE3) expressing rBmαTX14 caused extension of the life span and promoted the locomotion of the nematodes. In addition, we identified several genes that play various roles in the life span and locomotion of C. elegans through microarray analysis and quantitative real-time PCR. Furthermore, if the amino acid site H15 of rBmαTX14 was mutated, rBmαTX14 no longer promoted the C. elegans life span. In conclusion, the results not only demonstrated the functions and mechanism of rBmαTX14 in C. elegans, but also provided the new sight in the utility of recombinant peptides from scorpion venom.

Prokaryotic Expression and Anti-IBDV Activity of Chicken Interleukin-18 and Interferon-γ

“…Then, the cells were counted and diluted to a final concentration of 1 × 10 6 cells/ mL [Chen et al, 2016]. The cells were cultured for 36 h until they were completely adherent.…”

Identifying longevity associated genes by integrating gene expression and curated annotations

“…Homeobox protein CEH-13 exhibits pro-longevity characteristics based on experimental evidence—specifically, a ceh-13 mutant strain has decreased lifespan compared to wildtype controls [ 24 ]. LPR-3 (LiPocalin-Related protein) is known to be involved in nematode worm locomotion, and appears to mediate the longevity-inducing effect of daf-7 mutation [ 25 ]; additionally, expression of lpr-3 is increased in worms fed with rBm α TX14, an α -neurotoxin that increases worm lifespan [ 26 ].…”

Counting Caenorhabditis elegans: Protocol Optimization and Applications for Population Growth and Toxicity Studies in Liquid Medium

“…This makes it challenging to verify or reproduce experiments, a current key topic in biological research 15 , 16 . Representative examples of unreported or inadequately described nematode counting protocols can be found in research from neurotoxicology 17 – 19 , environmental toxicology 20 – 23 , calorie-restriction 24 – 26 and genotoxicology 27 , 28 .…”