title: C. elegans ankyrin repeat protein VAB-19 is a component of epidermal attachment structures and is essential for epidermal morphogenesis.
abstract: Elongation of the epidermis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves both actomyosin-mediated changes in lateral epidermal cell shape and body muscle attachment to dorsal and ventral epidermal cells via intermediate-filament/hemidesmosome structures. vab-19 mutants are defective in epidermal elongation and muscle attachment to the epidermis. VAB-19 is a member of a conserved family of ankyrin repeat-containing proteins that includes the human tumor suppressor Kank. In epidermal cells, VAB-19::GFP localizes with components of epidermal attachment structures. In vab-19 mutants, epidermal attachment structures form normally but do not remain localized to muscle-adjacent regions of the epidermis. VAB-19 localization requires function of the transmembrane attachment structure component Myotactin. vab-19 mutants also display aberrant actin organization in the epidermis. Loss of function in the spectrin SMA-1 partly bypasses the requirement for VAB-19 in elongation, suggesting that VAB-19 and SMA-1/spectrin might play antagonistic roles in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.
authors.affiliation: Sinsheimer Laboratories, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Alexandr
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Goncharov
authors.forename: Yishi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Andrew D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Chisholm
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000378:metabolism; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017089:Ankyrin Repeat; D019521:Body Patterning; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D004817:Epidermis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013049:Spectrin / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; C480839:VAB-19 protein, C elegans; D013049:Spectrin