C. elegans MRP-5 Exports Vitamin B12 from Mother to Offspring to Support Embryonic Development

Huimin Na; Olga Ponomarova; Gabrielle E Giese; Albertha J M Walhout

doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2018.02.100

C. elegans MRP-5 Exports Vitamin B12 from Mother to Offspring to Support Embryonic Development

Cell Rep. 2018 Mar 20;22(12):3126-3133. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2018.02.100.

Authors

Huimin Na¹, Olga Ponomarova¹, Gabrielle E Giese¹, Albertha J M Walhout²

Affiliations

¹ Program in Systems Biology and Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA.
² Program in Systems Biology and Program in Molecular Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA 01605, USA. Electronic address: marian.walhout@umassmed.edu.

Abstract

Vitamin B12 functions as a cofactor for methionine synthase to produce the anabolic methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and for methylmalonyl-CoA mutase to catabolize the short-chain fatty acid propionate. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, maternally supplied vitamin B12 is required for the development of offspring. However, the mechanism for exporting vitamin B12 from the mother to the offspring is not yet known. Here, we use RNAi of more than 200 transporters with a vitamin B12-sensor transgene to identify the ABC transporter MRP-5 as a candidate vitamin B12 exporter. We show that the injection of vitamin B12 into the gonad of mrp-5 deficient mothers rescues embryonic lethality in the offspring. Altogether, our findings identify a maternal mechanism for the transit of an essential vitamin to support the development of the next generation.

Keywords: ABC transporter; Caenorhabditis elegans; RNAi screen; mrp-5; vitamin B12.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism*
Embryonic Development
Vitamin B 12 / metabolism*

Substances

Vitamin B 12

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding