title: Spatial and molecular cues for cell outgrowth during C. elegans uterine development.
abstract: The Caenorhabditis elegans uterine seam cell (utse) is an H-shaped syncytium that connects the uterus to the body wall. Comprising nine nuclei that move outward in a bidirectional manner, this synctium undergoes remarkable shape change during development. Using cell ablation experiments, we show that three surrounding cell types affect utse development: the uterine toroids, the anchor cell and the sex myoblasts. The presence of the anchor cell (AC) nucleus within the utse is necessary for proper utse development and AC invasion genes fos-1, cdh-3, him-4, egl-43, zmp-1 and mig-10 promote utse cell outgrowth. Two types of uterine lumen epithelial cells, uterine toroid 1 (ut1) and uterine toroid 2 (ut2), mediate proper utse outgrowth and we show roles in utse development for two genes expressed in the uterine toroids: the RASEF ortholog rsef-1 and Trio/unc-73. The SM expressed gene unc-53/NAV regulates utse cell shape; ablation of sex myoblasts (SMs), which generate uterine and vulval muscles, cause defects in utse morphology. Our results clarify the nature of the interactions that exist between utse and surrounding tissue, identify new roles for genes involved in cell outgrowth, and present the utse as a new model system for understanding cell shape change and, putatively, diseases associated with cell shape change.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Electronic address: sghosh@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: Srimoyee
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology and Biological Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Electronic address: pws@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: Paul W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Sternberg
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019070:Cell Lineage; D002465:Cell Movement; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D005260:Female; D051157:Frizzled Receptors / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005838:Genotype; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D010641:Phenotype; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos / Q000378:metabolism; D034622:RNA Interference; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014599:Uterus / Q000196:embryology*; D014844:Vulva / Q000196:embryology*; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: C103967:CDH-3 protein, C elegans; D015820:Cadherins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C084226:Egl-43 protein, C elegans; C520083:FOS-1 protein, C elegans; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C554442:Mig-1 protein, C elegans; D016760:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos; D014157:Transcription Factors; C424064:him-4 protein, C elegans; D020691:rab GTP-Binding Proteins
keywords: C. elegans; Cell outgrowth; Nav; Nuclear migration; Rab; Trio