ACT-5 is an essential Caenorhabditis elegans actin required for intestinal microvilli formation.

ABSTRACT: Investigation of Caenorhabditis elegans act-5 gene function revealed that intestinal microvillus formation requires a specific actin isoform. ACT-5 is the most diverged of the five C. elegans actins, sharing only 93% identity with the other four. Green fluorescent protein reporter and immunofluorescence analysis indicated that act-5 gene expression is limited to microvillus-containing cells within the intestine and excretory systems and that ACT-5 is apically localized within intestinal cells. Animals heterozygous for a dominant act-5 mutation looked clear and thin and grew slowly. Animals homozygous for either the dominant act-5 mutation, or a recessive loss of function mutant, exhibited normal morphology and intestinal cell polarity, but died during the first larval stage. Ultrastructura

SUBMITTER: MacQueen AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1165408 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature