Positioning and maintenance of embryonic body wall muscle attachments in C. elegans requires the mup-1 gene |
| |
Authors: | P Y Goh T Bogaert |
| |
Institution: | Laboratory of Molecular Neurobiology, National University of Singapore. |
| |
Abstract: | As part of a general study of genes specifying a pattern of muscle attachments, we identified and genetically characterised mutants in the mup-1 gene. The body wall muscles of early stage mup-1 embryos have a wild-type myofilament pattern but may extend ectopic processes. Later in embryogenesis, some body wall muscles detach from the hypodermis. Genetic analysis suggests that mup-1 has both a maternal and a zygotic component and is not required for postembryonic muscle growth and attachment. mup-1 mutants are suppressed by mutations in several genes that encode extracellular matrix components. We propose that mup-1 may encode a cell surface/extracellular matrix molecule required both for the positioning of body wall muscle attachments in early embryogenesis and the subsequent maintenance of these attachments to the hypodermis until after cuticle synthesis. |
| |
Keywords: | |
|
|