Elongation of the epidermis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegansinvolves both actomyosin-mediated changes in lateral epidermal cell shape and body muscle attachment to dorsal and ventral epidermal cells via intermediate-filament/hemidesmosome structures. vab-19 mutants are defective in epidermal elongation and muscle attachment to the epidermis. VAB-19 is a member of a conserved family of ankyrin repeat-containing proteins that includes the human tumor suppressor Kank. In epidermal cells,VAB-19::GFP localizes with components of epidermal attachment structures. In vab-19 mutants, epidermal attachment structures form normally but do not remain localized to muscle-adjacent regions of the epidermis. VAB-19 localization requires function of the transmembrane attachment structure component Myotactin. vab-19 mutants also display aberrant actin organization in the epidermis. Loss of function in the spectrin SMA-1 partly bypasses the requirement for VAB-19 in elongation, suggesting that VAB-19 and SMA-1/spectrin might play antagonistic roles in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.
C. elegans ankyrin repeat protein VAB-19 is a component of epidermal attachment structures and is essential for epidermal morphogenesis
Mei Ding, Alexandr Goncharov, Yishi Jin, Andrew D. Chisholm; C. elegans ankyrin repeat protein VAB-19 is a component of epidermal attachment structures and is essential for epidermal morphogenesis. Development 1 December 2003; 130 (23): 5791–5801. doi: https://doi.org/10.1242/dev.00791
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