RSU-1 Maintains Integrity of Caenorhabditis elegans Vulval Muscles by Regulating α-Actinin.

ABSTRACT: Egg-laying behavior in Caenorhabditis elegans is a well-known model for investigating fundamental cellular processes. In egg-laying, muscle contraction is the relaxation of the vulval muscle to extrude eggs from the vulva. Unlike skeletal muscle, vulval muscle lacks visible striations of the sarcomere. Therefore, vulval muscle must counteract the mechanical stress, caused by egg extrusion and body movement, from inducing cell-shape distortion by maintaining its cytoskeletal integrity. However, the underlying mechanisms that regulate the cellular integrity in vulval muscles remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that C. elegans egg-laying requires proper vulval muscle 1 (vm1), in which the actin bundle organization of vm1 muscles is regulated by Ras suppressor protein 1 (RSU-1).

SUBMITTER: Wang X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7341117 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature