Gene expression of TRPMLs and its regulation by pathogen stimulation

Abstract

The transient receptor potential mucolipin (TRPML) subfamily in mammalian has three members, namely TRPML1, TRPML2, and TRPML3, who play key roles in regulating intracellular Ca²⁺ homeostasis, endosomal pH, membrane trafficking and autophagy. Previous studies had shown that three TRPMLs are closely related to the occurrence of pathogen invasion and immune regulation in some immune tissues or cells, but the relationship between TRPMLs expression and pathogen invasion in lung tissue or cell remains elusive. Here, we investigated the expression distribution of three TRPML channels in mouse different tissues by qRT-PCR, and then found that all three TRPMLs were highly expressed in the mouse lung tissue, as well as mouse spleen and kidney tissues. The expression of TRPML1 or TRPML3 in all three mouse tissues had a significant down-regulation after the treatment of Salmonella or LPS, but TRPML2 expression showed a remarkable increase. Consistently, TRPML1 or TRPML3 but not TRPML2 in A549 cells also displayed a decreased expression induced by LPS stimulation, which shared a similar regulation pattern in the mouse lung tissue. Furthermore, the treatment of the TRPML1 or TRPML3 specific activator induced a dose-dependent up-regulation of inflammatory factors IL-1β, IL-6 and TNFα, suggesting that TRPML1 and TRPML3 are likely to play an important role in immune and inflammatory regulation. Together, our study identified the gene expression of TRPMLs induced by pathogen stimulation in vivo and in vitro, which may provide novel targets for innate immunity or pathogen regulation.

Keywords: Lung tissue; Pathogen invasion; Specific activator; TRPML; qRT-PCR.