title: Vaccinia-related kinase 1 is required for early uterine development in Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: Protein kinases regulate a multitude of processes by reversible phosphorylation of target molecules. Induction of cell proliferation and differentiation are fundamental to development and rely on tightly controlled kinase activities. Vaccinia-Related Kinases (VRKs) have emerged as a multifunctional family of kinases with essential functions conserved, from nematodes and fruit flies, to humans. VRK substrates include chromatin and transcription factors, whereas deregulation of VRKs is implicated in sterility, cancer and neurological defects. In contrast to previous observations, we describe here that Caenorhabditis elegans VRK-1 is expressed in all cell types, including proliferating and post-mitotic cells. Despite the ubiquitous expression pattern, we find that vrk-1 mutants are particularly impaired in uterine development. Our data show that VRK-1 is required for uterine cell proliferation and differentiation. Moreover, the anchor cell, a specialized uterine cell, fails to fuse with neighboring cells to form the utse syncytium in vrk-1 mutants, thus providing further insight on the role of VRKs in organogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology, CSIC-Junta de Andalucia-Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera, km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dobrzynska
authors.affiliation: Andalusian Center for Developmental Biology, CSIC-Junta de Andalucia-Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Carretera de Utrera, km 1, 41013 Seville, Spain. Electronic address: pask@upo.es.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Askjaer
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002453:Cell Cycle; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018613:Microscopy, Confocal; D008938:Mitosis; D009154:Mutation; D038081:Organogenesis; D010766:Phosphorylation; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014599:Uterus / Q000196:embryology*
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; C517796:VRK-1 protein, C elegans
keywords: Anchor cell; Cell fusion; MosSCI; Protein kinase; Uterine development; VRK1