The heme auxotroph Caenorhabditis elegans can cleave the thioether bonds of c‐type cytochromes
Year: 2018
Type: article
Abstract: Heme is essential and synthesized via highly regulated processes. For this reason, most organisms strive to recycle it or acquire it from their environment. When heme is bound to proteins noncovalently, degradation of the polypeptide is sufficient to release it. However, in some hemoproteins, such as c-type cytochromes, heme is covalently bound to the protein backbone. We use the heme auxotroph Caenorhabditis elegans to investigate if cytochromes c can be a heme source, and we show that this organism must encode a novel system which specifically cleaves the thioether bonds of c-type cytochromes. We also find that at limiting heme concentrations, while somatic tissues develop normally the germline fails to proliferate, suggesting the presence of a heme-sensing checkpoint in C. elegans.
Source: FEBS Letters
Institutions: University of Oxford, Imperial College London
Language: English
Subfield: Cell Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Unravelling the remarkable synthesis and mechanisms involved in the biogenesis of heme and heme d1 from siroheme., G2553659785, Investigations into unprecedented reactions associated with the biosynthesis of hemes, Characterisation of disulfide bond formation in bacterial pathogens: Unravelling the adaptation of a classical pathway into a virulence aid., G4233533781, Nematode surface properties and genetics, drug sensitivity and bacterial infection, G52501721, G8638694122
OpenAlex ID: W2793558744