Tat-mediated protein delivery in living Caenorhabditis elegans

Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 2007 Jan 19;352(3):587-91. doi: 10.1016/j.bbrc.2006.11.046. Epub 2006 Nov 17.

Abstract

The Tat protein from HIV-1 fused with heterologous proteins traverses biological membranes in a transcellular process called: protein transduction. This has already been successfully exploited in various biological models, but never in the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. TAT-eGFP or GST-eGFP proteins were fed to C. elegans worms, which resulted in the specific localization of Tat-eGFP to epithelial intestinal cells. This system represents an efficient tool for transcellular transduction in C. elegans intestinal cells. Indeed, this approach avoids the use of tedious purification steps to purify the TAT fusion proteins and allows for rapid analyses of the transduced proteins. In addition, it may represent an efficient tool to functionally analyze the mechanisms of protein transduction as well as to complement RNAi/KO in the epithelial intestinal system. To sum up, the advantage of this technology is to combine the potential of bacterial expression system and the Tat-mediated transduction technique in living worm.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / microbiology*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
  • Escherichia coli / genetics
  • Escherichia coli / metabolism*
  • Gene Products, tat / genetics
  • Gene Products, tat / metabolism*
  • Protein Engineering / methods
  • Protein Transport / physiology
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism*
  • Transduction, Genetic / methods*

Substances

  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • Gene Products, tat
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins