title: Assembly studies of six intestinal intermediate filament (IF) proteins B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, and E1 in the nematode C. elegans.
abstract: The dimerisation properties of six intestine-expressed intermediate filament (IF) proteins (B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, E1) were analysed in blot overlay assay on membranes containing all of the eleven recombinant C. elegans IF proteins (A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, and E1). The interactions detected in the blot assays exclusively comprise intestine-expressed IF proteins and the protein A4, which is found in the dauer larva intestine. About 86% of these interactions are heterotypic, while the remaining interactions relate to C1, C2, and D2 homodimers. These multiple modes of interaction were also supported by calculations of the numbers of possible interchain ionic interactions derived from the individual rod sequences. The results predict that the six B2, C1, C2, D1, D2, and E1 IF proteins are able to form as many as eleven different heteropolymeric and three homopolymeric IFs in the C. elegans intestine. This simple model of the intestinal IF meshwork enables us to speculate that our previously reported triple RNAi worms arrested or decreased their growth because of feeding reduction due to morphological defects of the mechanically compromised intestine.
authors.affiliation: SEMBID, s.r.o.-Research Centre of Applied Biomedical Diagnostics, Magnezitarska 2/C, Kosice, 04013, Slovakia.
authors.forename: Anton
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6633-4343
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karabinos
authors.affiliation: Department of Cellular Logistics, Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Am Fassberg 11, Goettingen, 37077, Germany.
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schünemann
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, 4442, New Zealand.
authors.forename: David A D
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Parry
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000378:metabolism*; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000378:metabolism*; D034622:RNA Interference / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: C. elegans; RNA interference; heteropolymers; intermediate filament; phenotype