Phenotypic monitoring of Caenorhabditis elegans with a loss-of-function mutation for the lipase LIPL-5

• Grant number: 24/03305-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2024
• End date: May 31, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Fernanda Marques da Cunha
• Grantee: Thais Melo Alves
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Lipid metabolism participates in almost every aspect of metazoan life, but, in spite of its centrality to life, topics such as the complete characterization of the lipid repertoire of organisms, the elucidation of how this repertoire is remodeled in response to specific exogenous or endogenous stimuli, as well as the identification of the molecular effectors involved in each situation are still missing. Data from our groupshow that mutant worms lacking the lipase LIPL-5 are enriched in coenzyme Q9 and have mitochondria more capable of oxidizing NADH and lipids when compared with wild type worms. Additionally, data from the literature indicate that lipl-5 mutants live longer under starvation than wild type worms. Curiously, the advantages conferred by LIPL-5 absence do not seem to be accompanied by impairments in basic physiological parameters such as development time, fertility or the unfolded protein response in the endoplasmic reticulum, suggesting that there are no tradeoffs associated with LIPL-5 deficiency. However, a gene whose protein product would only confer disadvantageswould not be conserved throughout evolution. This project proposes to investigate the impact of the absence of LIPL-5 on the worm's resistance to stresses of different nature.The data to be obtained in this project will make a strong contribution to the understanding of the biological role of the lipase lipl-5 in C. elegans.