spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

First published online 8 October 2008
doi: 10.1242/dev.027060

Development 135, 3665-3675 (2008)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2008
This Article
Right arrow Figures Only
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplementary Material
Right arrowOA All Versions of this Article:
dev.027060v1
135/22/3665    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Related articles in Development
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Tenlen, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Priess, J. R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Tenlen, J. R.
Right arrow Articles by Priess, J. R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

MEX-5 asymmetry in one-cell C. elegans embryos requires PAR-4- and PAR-1-dependent phosphorylation

Jennifer R. Tenlen1,2,*, Jeffrey N. Molk2,{dagger}, Nitobe London2,3,{dagger}, Barbara D. Page2,3 and James R. Priess1,2,3,4,{ddagger}

1 Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.
2 Division of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Seattle, WA 98109, USA.
4 Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA.

{ddagger} Author for correspondence (e-mail: jpriess{at}fhcrc.org)

Accepted 9 September 2008

Anteroposterior polarity in early C. elegans embryos is required for the specification of somatic and germline lineages, and is initiated by a sperm-induced reorganization of the cortical cytoskeleton and PAR polarity proteins. Through mechanisms that are not understood, the kinases PAR-1 and PAR-4, and other PAR proteins cause the cytoplasmic zinc finger protein MEX-5 to accumulate asymmetrically in the anterior half of the one-cell embryo. We show that MEX-5 asymmetry requires neither vectorial transport to the anterior, nor protein degradation in the posterior. MEX-5 has a restricted mobility before fertilization and in the anterior of one-cell embryos. However, MEX-5 mobility in the posterior increases as asymmetry develops, presumably allowing accumulation in the anterior. The MEX-5 zinc fingers and a small, C-terminal domain are essential for asymmetry; the zinc fingers restrict MEX-5 mobility, and the C-terminal domain is required for the increase in posterior mobility. We show that a crucial residue in the C-terminus, Ser 458, is phosphorylated in vivo. PAR-1 and PAR-4 kinase activities are required for the phosphorylation of S458, providing a link between PAR polarity proteins and the cytoplasmic asymmetry of MEX-5.

Key words: MEX-5, PAR-1, PAR-4, CCCH zinc finger proteins, C. elegans


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?

Related articles in Development:

MEX-5 takes its PARtners for asymmetry

Development 2008 135: e2201. [Full Text]  



This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Cell Sci.Home page
M. Roh-Johnson and B. Goldstein
In vivo roles for Arp2/3 in cortical actin organization during C. elegans gastrulation
J. Cell Sci., November 1, 2009; 122(21): 3983 - 3993.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 GeneticsHome page
A. C. Spilker, A. Rabilotta, C. Zbinden, J.-C. Labbe, and M. Gotta
MAP Kinase Signaling Antagonizes PAR-1 Function During Polarization of the Early Caenorhabditis elegans Embryo
Genetics, November 1, 2009; 183(3): 965 - 977.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 ScienceHome page
C. P. Brangwynne, C. R. Eckmann, D. S. Courson, A. Rybarska, C. Hoege, J. Gharakhani, F. Julicher, and A. A. Hyman
Germline P Granules Are Liquid Droplets That Localize by Controlled Dissolution/Condensation
Science, June 26, 2009; 324(5935): 1729 - 1732.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 JCBHome page
B. R. Daniels, E. M. Perkins, T. M. Dobrowsky, S. X. Sun, and D. Wirtz
Asymmetric enrichment of PIE-1 in the Caenorhabditis elegans zygote mediated by binary counterdiffusion
J. Cell Biol., February 23, 2009; 184(4): 473 - 479.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2008