The sole essential low molecular weight tropomyosin isoform of <i>Caenorhabditis elegans</i> is essential for pharyngeal muscle function.

ABSTRACT: Tropomyosin is an actin-binding protein that plays roles ranging from regulating muscle contraction to controlling cytokinesis and cell migration. The simple nematode Caenorhabditis elegans provides a useful model for studying the core functions of tropomyosin in an animal, having a relatively simple anatomy, and a single tropomyosin gene, lev-11, that produces seven isoforms. Three higher molecular weight isoforms (LEV-11A, D, O) regulate contraction of body wall and other muscles, but comparatively less is known of the functions of four lower molecular weight isoforms (LEV-11C, E, T, U). We demonstrate here C. elegans can survive with a single low molecular weight isoform, LEV-11E. Mutants disrupted for LEV-11E die as young larvae, whereas mutants disrupted for all o

SUBMITTER: Kimmich MJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11702560 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature