mRNA induction of the direct DAF-16 target
sod-3 was slightly reduced in
daf-2(
e1370) mutants grown on
mdt-15 RNAi. Similarly,
daf-2(
e1370) worms expressing a transgenic
sod-3p::gfp reporter showed reduced intestinal GFP fluorescence on
mdt-15 RNAi. However, DAF-16 did not bind MDT-15 in our yeast-two-hybrid assays (data not shown), and the effect of MDT-15 depletion on
sod-3 mRNA levels was relatively weak, suggesting that MDT-15 only plays a minor role in DAF-16-dependent transcription.