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Analysis of Ubiquitin-Dependent Proteolysis in Caenorhabditis elegans

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Book cover Ubiquitin Family Modifiers and the Proteasome

Part of the book series: Methods in Molecular Biology ((MIMB,volume 832))

Abstract

The maintenance of proteostasis is a fundamental process that encompasses refolding and degradation of unfolded and damaged proteins to enable organismal development (1). In eukaryotic cells, the ubiquitin/proteasome system (UPS) is a key determinant of proteostasis by regulating protein turnover. During the past decade, detailed mechanistic insight about the UPS was revealed from extensive studies in mono-cellular systems, such as yeast or tissue culture cells. However, a further challenge is to decipher how ubiquitin-dependent degradation pathways promote cellular differentiation and development of multicellular organisms. In this chapter, we describe an in vivo assay to study protein turnover during development and in differentiated tissues in response to intrinsic and environmental challenges in the multicellular organism Caenorhabditis elegans. This assay is particularly suitable to perform large-scale genetic screens for the identification of novel proteolysis factors and pathways important for developmental processes and opens new avenues for future investigation of tissue- or development-specific proteostasis networks.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center (funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources) for strains. This work was supported by grants from the European Community Network of Excellence RUBICON (LSHC-CT-2005-018683 to T.H.), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (CECAD, FOR885, SFB635, HO2541/1-1, and HO2541/4-1 to T.H.). T.H. is an EMBO Young Investigator.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Genetics and Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases (CECAD), University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany

    Alexandra Segref & Thorsten Hoppe

Authors
  1. Alexandra Segref
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  2. Thorsten Hoppe
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandra Segref .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Genetik, Universität Köln, Zülpicher Str. 47, Köln, 50674, Germany

    R. Jürgen Dohmen

  2. Fak. Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Konstanz, 78457, Germany

    Martin Scheffner

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Segref, A., Hoppe, T. (2012). Analysis of Ubiquitin-Dependent Proteolysis in Caenorhabditis elegans . In: Dohmen, R., Scheffner, M. (eds) Ubiquitin Family Modifiers and the Proteasome. Methods in Molecular Biology, vol 832. Humana Press. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-474-2_38

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-61779-474-2_38

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  • Publisher Name: Humana Press

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-61779-473-5

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-61779-474-2

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