Positioning and maintenance of embryonic body wall muscle attachments in C. elegans requires the mup-1 gene.
As part of a general study of genes specifying a pattern of muscle attachments, we identified and genetically characterised mutants in the mup-1 gene. The body wall muscles of early stage mup-1 embryos have a wild-type myofilament pattern but may extend ectopic processes. Later in embryogenesis, some body wall muscles detach from the hypodermis. Genetic analysis suggests that mup-1 has both a maternal and a zygotic component and is not required for postembryonic muscle growth and attachment. mup-1 mutants are suppressed by mutations in several genes that encode extracellular matrix components. We propose that mup-1 may encode a cell surface/extracellular matrix molecule required both for the positioning of body wall muscle attachments in early embryogenesis and the subsequent maintenance of these attachments to the hypodermis until after cuticle synthesis.
Goh
P Y
PY
Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, National University of Singapore.
Bogaert
T
T
D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D005796:Genes / Q000502:physiology*; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D016253:Microscopy, Immunoelectron; D009132:Muscles / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D010641:Phenotype