The tardigrade Dsup protein enhances radioresistance in Drosophila melanogaster and acts as an unspecific repressor of transcription
Mikhail Zarubin, Talyana Azorskaya, O. A. Kuldoshina, Sergey Alekseev, Semen Mitrofanov, Elena Kravchenko
Abstract
The tardigrade-unique damage suppressor protein (Dsup) can protect DNA from ionizing radiation and reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, we generated Dsup -expressing lines of Drosophila melanogaster and demonstrated that Dsup increased the survival rate after γ-ray irradiation and hydrogen peroxide treatment in flies too, but reduced the level of their locomotor activity. The transcriptome analyses of Dsup -expressing lines revealed a significant number of DEGs, >99% of which were down-regulated. Moreover, Dsup could bind RNA. These findings suggest that Dsup can act not only as a DNA protector but also as a non-specific transcriptional repressor and RNA-binding protein, that may lead to disturbance of a number of biological processes in D. melanogaster . The obtained data demonstrate features of the Dsup protein action in non-tardigrade organisms and can be used to understand the impact of other unspecific DNA/RNA-binding proteins on ROS and radiation resistance, gene expression, and epigenetic processes.