title: CCDC-55 is required for larval development and distal tip cell migration in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: The Caenorhabditis elegans distal tip cells (DTCs) are an in vivo model for the study of developmentally regulated cell migration. In this study, we characterize a novel role for CCDC-55, a conserved coiled-coil domain containing protein, in DTC migration and larval development in C. elegans. Although animals homozygous for a probable null allele, ccdc-55(ok2851), display an early larval arrest, RNAi depletion experiments allow the analysis of later phenotypes and suggest that CCDC-55 is needed within the DTC for migration to cease at the end of larval morphogenesis. The ccdc-55 gene is found in an operon with rnf-121 and rnf-5, E3 ubiquitin ligases that target cell migration genes such as the β-integrin PAT-3. Genetic interaction studies using RNAi depletion and the deletion alleles rnf-121(ok848) and rnf-5(tm794) indicate that CCDC-55 and the RNF genes act at least partially in parallel to promote termination of cell migration in the adult DTC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Northeastern University, 134 Mugar Hall, 360 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115, United States.
authors.forename: Ismar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kovacevic
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ho
authors.forename: Erin J
authors.initials: EJ
authors.lastname: Cram
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000254:growth & development; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement; D015870:Gene Expression; D055785:Gene Knockdown Techniques; D007814:Larva / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D034622:RNA Interference; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C573154:CCDC-55 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases