daf-31 Encodes the Catalytic Subunit of N Alpha-Acetyltransferase that Regulates Caenorhabditis elegans Development,Metabolism and Adult Lifespan

The caenorhabditis elegans dauer larva is a facultative state of diapause. mutations affecting dauer signal transduction and morphogenesis have been reported. of these,most that result in constitutive formation of dauer larvae are temperature-sensitive (ts). the daf-31 mutant was isolated in genetic screens looking for novel and underrepresented classes of mutants that form dauer and dauer-like larvae non-conditionally. dauer-like larvae are arrested in development and have some,but not all,of the normal dauer characteristics. we show here that daf-31 mutants form dauer-like larvae under starvation conditions but are sensitive to sds treatment. moreover,metabolism is shifted to fat accumulation in daf-31 mutants. we cloned the daf-31 gene and it encodes an ortholog of the arrest-defective-1 protein (ard1) that is the catalytic subunit of the major n alpha-acetyltransferase (nata). a daf-31 promoter::gfp reporter gene indicates daf-31 is expressed in multiple tissues including neurons,pharynx,intestine and hypodermal cells. interestingly,overexpression of daf-31 enhances the longevity phenotype of daf-2 mutants,which is dependent on the forkhead transcription factor (foxo) daf-16. we demonstrate that overexpression of daf-31 stimulates the transcriptional activity of daf-16 without influencing its subcellular localization. these data reveal an essential role of nata in controlling c. elegans life history and also a novel interaction between ard1 and foxo transcription factors,which may contribute to understanding the function of ard1 in mammals. © 2014 chen et al.