Overview of different aggregate types, vesicular structures, and phenotypes in the <i>C. elegans</i> prion model.

Abstract

<p>Expression of R2E2 leads to a range of different foci that were detected with both the YFP and RFP tag (indicated by the orange color). Large foci were analyzed by FRAP and categorized into spherical mobile (containing slowly diffusing protein) and fibrillar immobile aggregates (containing non diffusing protein). Small foci were not assessed by FRAP and consist of presumably both, small aggregates and vesicles (that partially co-localized to LGG-1::GFP). None of the YFP-positive foci exhibited directed movement (very few small foci were moving irregular and undirected within a cell). Fragmented mitochondria were observed in muscle cells and non-expressing tissues by TEM, whereas the YFP signal was not detected outside of body wall muscle cells above the background autofluorescence. In contrast, RFP tagged R2E2 also localized to tubular structures that co-localized with LMP-1::GFP. These tubular structures containing R2E2m::RFP, exhibited directed movement within and between muscle cells (red color indicates vesicles that were only visible with the RFP tag). The RFP-tagged protein was also detected in vesicles of the intestine and coelomocytes, indicating that R2E2 is released from muscle cells and endocytosed by these tissues. Folding sensors are depicted in green. While the injection of recombinant fibrils led to a sequence-specific induction of RΔ2-5 aggregation, co-expression of R2E2 led to a cell autonomous and cell non-autonomous non-sequence specific aggregation of the folding sensors RΔ2-5 and polyQ44. No co-localization of aggregates was observed in both cases.</p