Functional importance of an inverted formin C‐terminal tail at morphologically dynamic epithelial junctions

Autor: Amylisa M. Christophe, David Pruyne, SarahBeth Votra, Sumana Sundaramurthy, Curtis V. Yingling, Anna Hegsted
Rok vydání: 2019
Předmět:
Zdroj: Cytoskeleton (Hoboken)
ISSN: 1949-3592
1949-3584
DOI: 10.1002/cm.21547
Popis: Epithelial cell-cell junctions have dual roles of accommodating morphological changes in an epithelium, while maintaining cohesion during those changes. An abundance of junction proteins have been identified, but many details on how intercellular junctions respond to morphological changes remain unclear. In Caenorhabditis elegans, the spermatheca is an epithelial sac that repeatedly dilates and constricts to allow ovulation. It is thought that the junctions between spermatheca epithelial cells undergo reversible partial unzipping to allow rapid dilation. Previously, we found that EXC-6, a C. elegans protein homolog of the human disease-associated formin INF2, is expressed in the spermatheca and promotes oocyte entry. We show here that EXC-6 localizes toward the apical aspect of the spermatheca epithelial junctions, and that the EXC-6-labeled junction domains “unzip” and dramatically flatten with oocyte entry into the spermatheca. We demonstrate that the C-terminal tail of EXC-6 is necessary and sufficient for junction localization. Moreover, expression of the tail alone worsens ovulation defects, suggesting this region not only mediates EXC-6 localization, but also interacts with other components important for junction remodeling.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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