title: Embryonic lethality caused by mutations in basement membrane collagen of C. elegans.
abstract: Basement membranes are specialized forms of extracellular matrix with important functions in development. A major structural component of basement membranes is type IV collagen, a heterotrimer of two alpha 1(IV) and one alpha 2(IV) chains, which forms a complex, polygonal network associated with other basement membrane components. Here we report that the alpha 1(IV) collagen chain of Caenorhabditis elegans is encoded by the genetic locus emb-9. Mutations in emb-9 cause temperature-sensitive lethality during late embryogenesis. We have identified single nucleotide alterations that substitute glutamic acid for glycine in the triple-helical Gly-X-Y repeat region of the alpha 1(IV) collagen in three emb-9 mutant strains. These results are direct evidence that defects in basement membranes can disrupt embryonic development and form a basis for the genetic analysis of basement membrane function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois, Chicago 60680.
authors.forename: X D
authors.initials: XD
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Kramer
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000737:chemistry; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D003094:Collagen / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003094:Collagen