Myotactin, a novel hypodermal protein involved in muscle-cell adhesion in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: In C. elegans, assembly of hypodermal hemidesmosome-like structures called fibrous organelles is temporally and spatially coordinated with the assembly of the muscle contractile apparatus, suggesting that signals are exchanged between these cell types to position fibrous organelles correctly. Myotactin, a protein recognized by monoclonal antibody MH46, is a candidate for such a signaling molecule. The antigen, although expressed by hypodermis, first reflects the pattern of muscle elements and only later reflects the pattern of fibrous organelles. Confocal microscopy shows that in adult worms myotactin and fibrous organelles show coincident localization. Further, cell ablation studies show the bodywall muscle cells are necessary for normal myotactin distribution. To investigate myotactin's

SUBMITTER: Hresko MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2150558 | biostudies-literature | 1999 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature