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Title: Effects of the HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin on hatching and juvenile motility in caenorhabditis elegans and heterodera glycines

Author
item Agama, Keli
item Meyer, Susan
item Carta, Lynn
item Skantar, Andrea

Submitted to: BARC Poster Day
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2003
Publication Date: 5/1/2003
Citation: Agama, K.K., Meyer, S.L.F., Carta, L.K., Skantar, A.M. 2003. Effects of the HSP90 inhibitor geldanamycin on hatching and juvenile motility in Caenorhabditis elegans and Heterodera glycines [abstract]. BARC Poster Day Booklet: p. 41.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soybean cyst nematode (SCN) is the most economically important pest of soybean worldwide, causing annual yield losses of $600 million. One problem with controlling these crop losses is that there are no natural, environmentally safe ways to disrupt egg hatch or movement of the early life stages that are vulnerable in the soil. The developmentally arrested juvenile (J2) stage of SCN comprises a vulnerable point in the nematode life cycle, and the genes that control nematode development in response to environmental changes provide attractive targets for disruption. We used a naturally occurring antibiotic called geldanamycin to study the function of Hsp90, a key protein involved in nematode responses to stresses such as increased temperature. In the free-living nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the Hsp90 gene known as daf-21 is involved in the dauer pathway, an alternative developmental pathway that ensures nematode survival under extreme environmental conditions such as starvation and overcrowding. The Hsp90 class of molecular chaperones acts by ensuring correct folding, activation and assembly of specific target proteins that control normal cellular development and metabolism. The objective of our study was to determine the effect of Hsp90 disruption on nematode growth and development. We have discovered that geldanamycin reduced egg hatching and movement in both C. elegans and SCN. These results are significant because they represent the first demonstration of geldanamycin effects in any species of nematode, thereby making this compound a valuable new tool for studying nematode stress responses. In addition, the results indicate that the bacterium that naturally produces geldanamycin, Streptomyces hygroscopicus, may have potential as a novel biocontrol organism for nematodes or other invertebrates.