Publication: Negative regulation of Caenorhabditis elegans epidermal damage responses by death-associated protein kinase.

Published in: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2009 Feb; 106(5): 1457-61

Authors: Tong A, Lynn G, Ngo V, Wong D, Moseley SL, Ewbank JJ, Goncharov A, Wu YC, Pujol N, Chisholm AD

Summary

Wounding of epidermal layers triggers multiple coordinated responses to damage. We show here that the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of the tumor suppressor death-associated protein kinase, dapk-1, acts as a previously undescribed negative regulator of barrier repair and innate immune responses to wounding. Loss of DAPK-1 function results in constitutive formation of scar-like structures in the cuticle, and up-regulation of innate immune responses to damage. Overexpression of DAPK-1 represses innate immune responses to needle wounding. Up-regulation of innate immune responses in dapk-1 requires the TIR-1/p38 signal transduction pathway; loss of function in this pathway synergizes with dapk-1 to drastically reduce adult lifespan. Our results reveal a previously undescribed function for the DAPK tumor suppressor family in regulation of epithelial damage responses.

Link to Pubmed [PMID] – 19164535

Link to DOI – 10.1073/pnas.0809339106