|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||
| Home Help Feedback Subscriptions Archive Search Table of Contents | ||||
First published online 1 June 2005
doi: 10.1242/dev.01883
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Department of Medical Genetics and Microbiology, Collaborative Program in Developmental Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada
* Author for correspondence (e-mail: peter.roy{at}utoronto.ca)
Accepted 22 April 2005
In several types of animals, muscle cells use membrane extensions to contact motor axons during development. To better understand the process of membrane extension in muscle cells, we investigated the development of Caenorhabditis elegans muscle arms, which extend to motor axons and form the postsynaptic element of the neuromuscular junction. We found that muscle arm development is a highly regulated process: the number of muscle arms extended by each muscle, the shape of the muscle arms and the path taken by the muscle arms to reach the motor axons are largely stereotypical. We also investigated the role of several cytoskeletal components and regulators during arm development, and found that tropomyosin (LEV-11), the actin depolymerizing activity of ADF/cofilin (UNC-60B) and, surprisingly, myosin heavy chain B (UNC-54) are each required for muscle arm extension. This is the first evidence that UNC-54, which is found in thick filaments of sarcomeres, can also play a role in membrane extension. The muscle arm phenotypes produced when these genes are mutated support a `two-phase' model that distinguishes passive muscle arm development in embryogenesis from active muscle arm extension during larval development.
Key words: Muscle arms, Membrane extension, Myosin, actin, ADF/cofilin, Tropomyosin, unc-54, lev-11, unc-60, Caenorhabditis elegans
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati 
Twitter What's this?
Related articles in Development:
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  M. Alexander, K. K. M. Chan, A. B. Byrne, G. Selman, T. Lee, J. Ono, E. Wong, R. Puckrin, S. J. Dixon, and P. J. Roy An UNC-40 pathway directs postsynaptic membrane extension in Caenorhabditis elegans Development, March 15, 2009; 136(6): 911 - 922. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 K. Ono, S. Yamashiro, and S. Ono Essential role of ADF/cofilin for assembly of contractile actin networks in the C. elegans somatic gonad J. Cell Sci., August 15, 2008; 121(16): 2662 - 2670. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
W.-M. Woo, E. C. Berry, M. L. Hudson, R. E. Swale, A. Goncharov, and A. D. Chisholm The C. elegans F-spondin family protein SPON-1 maintains cell adhesion in neural and non-neural tissues Development, August 15, 2008; 135(16): 2747 - 2756. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. J. Dixon, M. Alexander, R. Fernandes, N. Ricker, and P. J. Roy FGF negatively regulates muscle membrane extension in Caenorhabditis elegans Development, April 1, 2006; 133(7): 1263 - 1275. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 Q. Liu, B. Chen, E. Gaier, J. Joshi, and Z.-W. Wang Low Conductance Gap Junctions Mediate Specific Electrical Coupling in Body-wall Muscle Cells of Caenorhabditis elegans J. Biol. Chem., March 24, 2006; 281(12): 7881 - 7889. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 J. H. Willis, E. Munro, R. Lyczak, and B. Bowerman Conditional Dominant Mutations in the Caenorhabditis elegans Gene act-2 Identify Cytoplasmic and Muscle Roles for a Redundant Actin Isoform Mol. Biol. Cell, March 1, 2006; 17(3): 1051 - 1064. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
