Cathepsin L protease (CPL-1) is essential for yolk processing during embryogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans

Cysteine proteases are involved in the degradation of intracellular and extracellular proteins, although their precise roles in vivo are not well understood. Here we characterise a genetic mutant of the Caenorhabditis elegans cathepsin L protease gene cpl-1. CPL-1 is provided maternally and is essential for C. elegans embryogenesis. Immunofluorescence and electron microscopy data show that yolk endocytosis and initial yolk platelet formation occur normally in cpl-1 mutant oocytes and embryos. However, at around the 8-12 cell stage of embryogenesis, yolk platelets begin to aggregate and these enlarged yolk platelets fill the cytoplasm of cpl-1 mutant embryos. Coincident with this aggregation is loss of fluorescence from a yolk green fluorescent protein (YP170::GFP). This suggests that loss of CPL-1 activity leads to aberrant processing and/or conformational changes in yolk proteins, resulting in abnormal platelet fusion. This study has relevance to the abnormal fusion and aggregation of lysosomes in cathepsin L-deficient mice and to other lysosomal disorders.