Abstract
Nematode sterol-binding protein 1 (NSBP-1) is a homolog of nucleosome assembly protein 1 in mammals that is expressed widely in Caenorhabditis elegans. NSBP-1 mutants are biologically lethal, demonstrating the significance of the gene in growth and development. We investigated how cholesterol influences the insulin signaling pathway through this novel sterol-binding protein in C. elegans. Here we report that NSBP-1 influences many biological processes mediated by insulin signaling, such as longevity, dauer formation, fat storage, and resistance to oxidative stress. We found that NSBP-1 is phosphorylated by AKT-1 downstream of insulin signaling. In the absence of insulin signaling, NSBP-1 is translocated to the nucleus and binds to DAF-16, a FOXO transcription factor, in a cholesterol-dependent manner. Moreover, NSBP-1 and DAF-16 regulate a common set of genes that can directly modulate fat storage, longevity, and resistance to stress. Together, our results present a new steroid-binding molecule that can connect sterol signaling to insulin signaling through direct interaction with FOXO.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1623-1636 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences |
| Volume | 70 |
| Issue number | 9 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2013 May |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea grant 2011-0028112 (to Y.-K. P.), World Class University Program grant R31-2008-000-10086-0 funded by the Korean government (Ministry of Education, Science and Technology), and National Project for Personalized Genomic Medicine grant A111218-11-CP01 (to Y.-K. P.). We also thank the National BioResource Project (NBRP) of Japan for providing the nsbp-1(tm1278) strain.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Molecular Medicine
- Molecular Biology
- Pharmacology
- Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience
- Cell Biology