The Lipocalin LPR-1 Cooperates with LIN-3/EGF Signaling To Maintain Narrow Tube Integrity in Caenorhabditis elegans.

ABSTRACT: Lipocalins are secreted cup-shaped glycoproteins that bind sterols, fatty acids, and other lipophilic molecules. Lipocalins have been implicated in a wide array of processes related to lipophilic cargo transport, sequestration, and signaling, and several are used as biomarkers for human disease, but the functions of most lipocalins remain poorly understood. Here we show that the Caenorhabditis elegans lipocalin LPR-1 is required to maintain apical membrane integrity and a continuous lumen in two narrow unicellular tubes, the excretory duct and pore, during a period of rapid lumen elongation. LPR-1 fusion protein is expressed by the duct and pore and accumulates both intracellularly and in apical extracellular compartments, but it can also function cell nonautonomously when provided

SUBMITTER: Pu P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5340336 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature