C. elegans has two functional peroxidasins (PXN), PXN-1 and PXN-2. PXN-2 is essential to consolidate the extracellular matrix during development and is suggested to interact with PXN-1 antagonistically. pxn-1 is involved in neuronal development and possibly maintenance; therefore, we investigated the relationship between pxn-1 and pxn-2 in neuronal development and in aging. During neuronal development, defects caused by pxn-1 overexpression were suppressed by overexpression of both pxn-1 and pxn-2. In neuronal aging process, pxn-1 mutants showed less age-related neuronal defects, such as neuronal outgrowth, neuronal wavy processes, and enhanced short-term memory performance. In addition, pxn-2 overexpressing animals retained an intact neuronal morphology when compared with age-matched controls. Consistent with these results, overexpression of both pxn-1 and pxn-2 restored the severe neuronal defects present with pxn-1 overexpression. These results implied that there is a negative relationship between pxn-1 and pxn-2 via pxn-1 regulating pxn-2. Therefore, pxn-1 may function in neuronal development and age-related neuronal maintenance through pxn-2.
Keywords: C. elegans; antagonistic relationship; neuronal aging; neuronal development; pxn-1; pxn-2.