TY - JOUR
T1 - The BED finger domain protein MIG-39 halts migration of distal tip cells in Caenorhabditis elegans
AU - Kikuchi, Tetsuhiro
AU - Shibata, Yukimasa
AU - Kim, Hon Song
AU - Kubota, Yukihiko
AU - Yoshina, Sawako
AU - Mitani, Shohei
AU - Nishiwaki, Kiyoji
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Erin J. Cram for the cacn-1 RNAi clone, Asako Sugimoto for the MTC1G plasmid. Some nematode strains used in this work were provided by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is funded by the NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR) . This work was supported by a Grant-in-aid for scientific research on innovative areas by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology to KN ( 22111005 ).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2015/1/15
Y1 - 2015/1/15
N2 - Organs are often formed by the extension and branching of epithelial tubes. An appropriate termination of epithelial tube extension is important for generating organs of the proper size and morphology. However, the mechanism by which epithelial tubes terminate their extension is mostly unknown. Here we show that the BED-finger domain protein MIG-39 acts to stop epithelial tube extension in Caenorhabditis elegans. The gonadal leader cells, called distal tip cells (DTCs), migrate in a U-shaped pattern during larval development and stop migrating at the young adult stage, generating a gonad with anterior and posterior U-shaped arms. In mig-39 mutants, however, DTCs overshot their normal stopping position. MIG-39 promoted the deceleration of DTCs, leading to the proper timing and positioning of the cessation of DTC migration. Among three Rac GTPase genes, mutations in ced-10 and rac-2 enhanced the overshoot of anterior DTCs, while they suppressed that of posterior DTCs of mig-39 mutants. On the other hand, the mutation in mig-2 suppressed both the anterior and posterior DTC defects of mig-39. Genetic analyses suggested that MIG-39 acts in parallel with Rac GTPases in stopping DTC migration. We propose a model in which the anterior and posterior DTCs respond in an opposite manner to the levels of Rac activities in the cessation of DTC migration.
AB - Organs are often formed by the extension and branching of epithelial tubes. An appropriate termination of epithelial tube extension is important for generating organs of the proper size and morphology. However, the mechanism by which epithelial tubes terminate their extension is mostly unknown. Here we show that the BED-finger domain protein MIG-39 acts to stop epithelial tube extension in Caenorhabditis elegans. The gonadal leader cells, called distal tip cells (DTCs), migrate in a U-shaped pattern during larval development and stop migrating at the young adult stage, generating a gonad with anterior and posterior U-shaped arms. In mig-39 mutants, however, DTCs overshot their normal stopping position. MIG-39 promoted the deceleration of DTCs, leading to the proper timing and positioning of the cessation of DTC migration. Among three Rac GTPase genes, mutations in ced-10 and rac-2 enhanced the overshoot of anterior DTCs, while they suppressed that of posterior DTCs of mig-39 mutants. On the other hand, the mutation in mig-2 suppressed both the anterior and posterior DTC defects of mig-39. Genetic analyses suggested that MIG-39 acts in parallel with Rac GTPases in stopping DTC migration. We propose a model in which the anterior and posterior DTCs respond in an opposite manner to the levels of Rac activities in the cessation of DTC migration.
KW - BED-finger domain
KW - Cell migration
KW - Epithelial tube morphogenesis
KW - Rac GTPase
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84919625554&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84919625554&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.10.008
DO - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.10.008
M3 - Article
C2 - 25446539
AN - SCOPUS:84919625554
SN - 0012-1606
VL - 397
SP - 151
EP - 161
JO - Developmental Biology
JF - Developmental Biology
IS - 2
ER -