The SQV-1 UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase and the SQV-7 nucleotide-sugar transporter may act in the Golgi apparatus to affect Caenorhabditis elegans vulval morphogenesis and embryonic development.
Recent findings indicate that glycosaminoglycans can play important roles in animal development. The genes sqv-3, -7, and -8, which are necessary for vulval morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans, affect the biosynthesis of chondroitin and heparan sulfate glycosaminoglycans. We cloned sqv-1 and showed that the SQV-1 protein is a type II transmembrane protein that functions as a UDP-glucuronic acid decarboxylase. SQV-1 localizes to punctate cytoplasmic compartments and colocalizes with the SQV-7 nucleotide-sugar transporter, which probably acts in the Golgi apparatus. SQV-1 and SQV-7 are both expressed in the vulva and in oocytes, where they likely act in vulval morphogenesis and embryonic development, respectively. Progeny of sqv-7 and sqv-1 null mutants fail to initiate cytokinesis, possibly because they are unable to separate the plasma membrane from the eggshell, a defect analogous to that of incomplete vulval invagination.
Hwang
Ho-Yon
HY
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, 68-425, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Horvitz
H Robert
HR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000201:enzymology; D005260:Female; D006056:Golgi Apparatus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D009024:Morphogenesis; D033701:Nucleobase, Nucleoside, Nucleotide, and Nucleic Acid Transport Proteins; D009711:Nucleotides / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods; D014535:Uridine Diphosphate Glucuronic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D014540:Uridine Diphosphate Xylose / Q000378:metabolism
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D033701:Nucleobase, Nucleoside, Nucleotide, and Nucleic Acid Transport Proteins; D009711:Nucleotides; C414738:sqv-7 protein, C elegans; D014535:Uridine Diphosphate Glucuronic Acid; D014540:Uridine Diphosphate Xylose; D002262:Carboxy-Lyases; C468929:SQV-1 protein, C elegans; C023257:UDPglucuronate decarboxylase