MRCK-1 activates non-muscle myosin for outgrowth of a unicellular tube in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: The formation and patterning of unicellular biological tubes is essential for metazoan development. It is well established that vascular tubes and neurons use similar guidance cues to direct their development, but the downstream mechanisms that promote the outgrowth of biological tubes are not well characterized. We show that the conserved kinase MRCK-1 and its substrate the regulatory light chain of non-muscle myosin, MLC-4, are required for outgrowth of the unicellular excretory canal in C. elegans. Ablation of MRCK-1 or MLC-4 in the canal causes severe truncations with unlumenized projections of the basal membrane. Structure-function analysis of MRCK-1 indicates that the kinase domain, but not the small GTPase-binding CRIB domain, is required for canal outgrowth. Expression of a phospho

SUBMITTER: Popiel EM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11634028 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature