- THIS ARTICLE
- Full Text
- Full Text (PDF)
- Supporting Information
-
All Versions of this Article:
genetics.109.103614v1
182/4/1015 most recent - Alert me when this article is cited
- Alert me if a correction is posted
- SERVICES
- Email this article to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Alert me to new issues of the journal
- Download to citation manager
- Reprints & Permissions
- CITING ARTICLES
- Citing Articles via Google Scholar
- GOOGLE SCHOLAR
- Articles by Davis, D. E.
- Articles by Kornfeld, K.
- Search for Related Content
- PUBMED
- PubMed Citation
- Articles by Davis, D. E.
- Articles by Kornfeld, K.
Originally published as Genetics Published Articles Ahead of Print on May 17, 2009.
Genetics, Vol. 182, 1015-1033, August 2009, Copyright © 2009
doi:10.1534/genetics.109.103614
The Cation Diffusion Facilitator Gene cdf-2 Mediates Zinc Metabolism in Caenorhabditis elegans
Diana E. Davis*,
Hyun Cheol Roh*,
Krupa Deshmukh*,
Janelle J. Bruinsma*,1,
Daniel L. Schneider*,
James Guthrie
,
J. David Robertson
and
Kerry Kornfeld*,2
* Department of Developmental Biology, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, Research Reactor Center and Department of Chemistry, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211
2 Corresponding author: Department of Developmental Biology Washington University School of Medicine, Box 8103, 660 South Euclid Ave., St. Louis, MO 63110.
E-mail: kornfeld{at}wustl.edu
Zinc is essential for many cellular processes. To use Caenorhabditis elegans to study zinc metabolism, we developed culture conditions allowing full control of dietary zinc and methods to measure zinc content of animals. Dietary zinc dramatically affected growth and zinc content; wild-type worms survived from 7 µM to 1.3 mM dietary zinc, and zinc content varied 27-fold. We investigated cdf-2, which encodes a predicted zinc transporter in the cation diffusion facilitator family. cdf-2 mRNA levels were increased by high dietary zinc, suggesting cdf-2 promotes zinc homeostasis. CDF-2 protein was expressed in intestinal cells and localized to cytosolic vesicles. A cdf-2 loss-of-function mutant displayed impaired growth and reduced zinc content, indicating that CDF-2 stores zinc by transport into the lumen of vesicles. The relationships between three cdf genes, cdf-1, cdf-2, and sur-7, were analyzed in double and triple mutant animals. A cdf-1 mutant displayed increased zinc content, whereas a cdf-1 cdf-2 double mutant had intermediate zinc content, suggesting cdf-1 and cdf-2 have antagonistic functions. These studies advance C. elegans as a model of zinc metabolism and identify cdf-2 as a new gene that has a critical role in zinc storage.
 |