Functional characterization of UBXN-6, a C-terminal cofactor of CDC-48, in C. elegans.

CDC-48 is a AAA (ATPases associated with diverse cellular activities) chaperone and participates in a wide range of cellular activities. Its functional diversity is determined by differential binding of a variety of cofactors. In this study, we analyzed the physiological role of a CDC-48 cofactor UBXN-6 in Caenorhabditis elegans. The amount of UBXN-6 was markedly increased upon starvation, but not with the treatment of tunicamycin and rapamycin. The induction upon starvation is a unique characteristic for UBXN-6 among C-terminal cofactors of CDC-48. During starvation, lysosomal activity is triggered for rapid clearance of cellular materials. We observed the lysosomal activity by monitoring GLO-1::GFP, a marker for lysosome-related organelles. We found that more puncta of GLO-1::GFP were observed in the ubxn-6 deletion mutant after 12 h starvation compared with the wild-type strain. Taken together, we propose that UBXN-6 is involved in clearance of cellular materials upon starvation in C. elegans.

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