pry-1 interacts with bar-1 to regulate vit-2 expression, lipid levels, and lifespan in Caenorhabditis elegans adults

The C. elegans Axin homolog, PRY-1 , is essential for multiple biological processes including vulval development, lipid metabolism, and lifespan maintenance. pry-1 mutants exhibit lower lipid contents and knockdowns of vit genes in pry-1 mutants can restore lipid levels, implicating vitellogenins' involvement in PRY-1 -mediated lipid homeostasis. As a component of the canonical WNT signal transduction pathway, PRY-1 inhibits the function of the β-catenin ortholog BAR-1 during vulval development and other developmental events. We showed earlier that a constitutively active form of BAR-1 causes a reduction in lipid contents, however, whether PRY-1 interacts with BAR-1 to regulate lipid levels and other processes is unknown. To this end, we examined the phenotypes of pry-1 and bar-1 single and double mutants. Our data suggest that the pry-1 - bar-1 genetic pathway regulates vit-2 expression, lipid homeostasis, and the lifespan of animals.