Bacillus thuringiensis Crystal Protein Cry6Aa Triggers Caenorhabditis elegans Necrosis Pathway Mediated by Aspartic Protease (ASP-1)

PLoS Pathog. 2016 Jan 21;12(1):e1005389. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005389. eCollection 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Cell death plays an important role in host-pathogen interactions. Crystal proteins (toxins) are essential components of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) biological pesticides because of their specific toxicity against insects and nematodes. However, the mode of action by which crystal toxins to induce cell death is not completely understood. Here we show that crystal toxin triggers cell death by necrosis signaling pathway using crystal toxin Cry6Aa-Caenorhabditis elegans toxin-host interaction system, which involves an increase in concentrations of cytoplasmic calcium, lysosomal lyses, uptake of propidium iodide, and burst of death fluorescence. We find that a deficiency in the necrosis pathway confers tolerance to Cry6Aa toxin. Intriguingly, the necrosis pathway is specifically triggered by Cry6Aa, not by Cry5Ba, whose amino acid sequence is different from that of Cry6Aa. Furthermore, Cry6Aa-induced necrosis pathway requires aspartic protease (ASP-1). In addition, ASP-1 protects Cry6Aa from over-degradation in C. elegans. This is the first demonstration that deficiency in necrosis pathway confers tolerance to Bt crystal protein, and that Cry6A triggers necrosis represents a newly added necrosis paradigm in the C. elegans. Understanding this model could lead to new strategies for nematode control.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Aspartic Acid Proteases / chemistry
  • Aspartic Acid Proteases / metabolism*
  • Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins
  • Bacterial Proteins / metabolism*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / enzymology*
  • Calorimetry
  • Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional
  • Endotoxins / metabolism*
  • Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
  • Hemolysin Proteins / metabolism*
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Immunoblotting
  • Mass Spectrometry
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Necrosis
  • Pest Control, Biological / methods

Substances

  • Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins
  • Bacterial Proteins
  • Endotoxins
  • Hemolysin Proteins
  • insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis
  • Aspartic Acid Proteases

Grants and funding

MS was supported by the National High Technology Research and Development Program (863) of China (2011AA10A203), China 948 Program of Ministry of Agriculture (2011-G25), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31170047). LR was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31171901). FZ was supported by State Key Laboratory of Agricultural Microbiology Program (AMLKF201306). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.