Investigating Protein Interactions Between Pam-1, Cdc-25.1, and the Novel Lz6 Suppressor During Oocyte Maturation in C. Elegans

Caenorhabditis elegans are transparent nematodes often used as model organisms. PAM-1 is a highly conserved puromycin sensitive aminopeptidase that regulates oocyte maturation and polarity establishment. Mutations in the pam-1 gene cause infertility, defects in polarity establishment, and abnormal progressions of meiosis and mitosis. CDC-25.1 dephosphorylates the maturating promoting factor in C. elegans oocytes, allowing oocytes to mature and become fertilized. I investigated protein interactions between PAM-1 and CDC-25.1 by observing oocyte maturation in the C. elegans gonad to uncover the mechanism behind PAM-1's role in reproduction. Suppression of PAM-1 phenotypes have also been observed, of which a novel suppressor was found called lz6. The novel suppressor lz6 is hypothesized to be the causal mutation in the cdc-25.1 gene that suppressed PAM-1 phenotypes. Delayed oocyte maturation in pam-1(or403);lz6 mutants was found compared to pam-1(or403) via DIC and confocal microscopy, which supports the conclusion that lz6 is a loss of function mutation in cdc-25.1. Furthermore, knockdown of cdc-25.1 with RNAi revealed delayed oocyte maturation in wildtype worms but not pam-1(or403) or pam-1(or403);lz6 mutants. This suggests PAM-1 is downstream of CDC-25.1 in the oocyte maturation pathway.

C. Elegans Oocyte Maturation Biology Developmental Biology Genetics