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. 1995 May 1;14(9):1858–1866. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb07178.x

A P-glycoprotein protects Caenorhabditis elegans against natural toxins.

A Broeks 1, H W Janssen 1, J Calafat 1, R H Plasterk 1
PMCID: PMC398285  PMID: 7743993

Abstract

P-glycoproteins can cause resistance of mammalian tumor cells to chemotherapeutic drugs. They belong to an evolutionarily well-conserved family of ATP binding membrane transporters. Four P-glycoprotein gene homologs have been found in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans; this report describes the functional analysis of two. We found that PGP-3 is expressed in both the apical membrane of the excretory cell and in the apical membrane of intestinal cells, whereas PGP-1 is expressed only in the apical membrane of the intestinal cells and the intestinal valve. By transposon-mediated deletion mutagenesis we generated nematode strains with deleted P-glycoprotein genes and found that the pgp-3 deletion mutant, but not the pgp-1 mutant, is sensitive to both colchicine and chloroquine. Our results suggest that soil nematodes have P-glycoproteins to protect themselves against toxic compounds made by plants and microbes in the rhizosphere.

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