title: Chondroitin proteoglycans are involved in cell division of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate are extracellular sugar chains involved in intercellular signalling. Disruptions of genes encoding enzymes that mediate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis have severe consequences in Drosophila and mice. Mutations in the Drosophila gene sugarless, which encodes a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase, impairs developmental signalling through the Wnt family member Wingless, and signalling by the fibroblast growth factor and Hedgehog pathways. Heparan sulphate is involved in these pathways, but little is known about the involvement of chondroitin. Undersulphated and oversulphated chondroitin sulphate chains have been implicated in other biological processes, however, including adhesion of erythrocytes infected with malaria parasite to human placenta and regulation of neural development. To investigate chondroitin functions, we cloned a chondroitin synthase homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans and depleted expression of its product by RNA-mediated interference and deletion mutagenesis. Here we report that blocking chondroitin synthesis results in cytokinesis defects in early embryogenesis. Reversion of cytokinesis is often observed in chondroitin-depleted embryos, and cell division eventually stops, resulting in early embryonic death. Our findings show that chondroitin is required for embryonic cytokinesis and cell division.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences 33, Kyushu University, Fukuoka 812-8581, Japan.
authors.forename: Souhei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mizuguchi
authors.forename: Toru
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Uyama
authors.forename: Hiroshi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kitagawa
authors.forename: Kazuko H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Katsufumi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dejima
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gengyo-Ando
authors.forename: Shohei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mitani
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sugahara
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nomura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism*; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002455:Cell Division; D002807:Chondroitin / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004187:Disaccharides / Q000378:metabolism; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005804:Genes, Lethal / Q000235:genetics; D016695:Glycosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017350:N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases; D010641:Phenotype; D011509:Proteoglycans / Q000172:deficiency / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D004187:Disaccharides; D011509:Proteoglycans; D002807:Chondroitin; D016695:Glycosyltransferases; D017350:N-Acetylgalactosaminyltransferases; C412725:chondroitin synthase