SOD-1 deletions in Caenorhabditis elegans alter the localization of intracellular reactive oxygen species and show molecular compensation

Abstract

Superoxide dismutase (SOD) is an enzyme that catalytically removes the superoxide radical (.O2-) and protects organisms from oxidative damage during normal aging. We demonstrate that not only the cytosolic .O2- level but also the mitochondrial .O2- level increases in the deletion mutants of sod-1 gene encoding Cu/Zn SOD in Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). Interestingly, this suggests that the activity of SOD-1, which so far has been thought to act mainly in cytoplasm, helps to control the detoxification of .O2- also in the mitochondria. We also found functional compensation by other SODs, especially the sod-5 gene, which was induced several fold in the mutants. Therefore, the possibility exists that the compensative expression of sod-5 gene in the sod-1 deficit is associated with the insulin/insulin-like growth factor-1 (Ins/IGF-1) signaling pathway, which regulates longevity and stress resistance of C. elegans because the sod-5 gene may be a target of the pathway. © The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.