摘要：Galectins are a family of β-galactoside-binding lectins. They are involved in the regulation of a variety of biological phenomena in mammals. However, little is known about their roles in invertebrates. Caenorhabditis elegans is a well-characterized model organism whose complete genome has been sequenced. C. elegans is now being studied extensively in various fields of medical sciences. In this study, we examined the phenotypes of a mutant strain of C. elegans ( tm1262 ) lacking lec-10 , a galectin-encoding gene. We observed no difference in the rates of embryonic lethality and larval arrest/slow growth between this mutant strain and the wild-type strain. No apparent morphological defect was observed in the lec-10 -deletion mutant ( tm1262 ). Moreover, the life-spans of this mutant and the wild-type strain were equivalent. However, this mutant showed significantly greater susceptibility to paraquat and hydrogen peroxide than the wild type did. The lec-10 -deletion mutants ( tm1262 ) were as susceptible as the daf-16 -deletion mutants ( mu86 ) to paraquat and hydrogen peroxide. These results suggest that the deletion of lec-10 does not have a notable effect on the worm's survival under laboratory conditions. However, this study indicates that lec-10 does confer some protection against oxidative stress.
