Journal
DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY
Volume 327, Issue 1, Pages 34-47Publisher
ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2008.11.025
Keywords
Cell polarity; Junction; Epithelia; Spermatheca; Ovulation; Gonadogenesis; IP3/Ca2+ signaling; Caenorhabditis elegans
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Funding
- NIH National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
- Jurgen Manchot Stiftung
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
- Agence National de la Recherche
- Association pour la Recherche contre le Cancer
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The let-413/scribble and dlg-1/discs large genes are key regulators of epithelial cell polarity in C. elegans and other systems but the mechanism how they organize a circumferential junctional belt around the apex of epithelial cells is not well understood. We report here that IP3/Ca2+ signaling is involved in the let-413/dlg-1 pathway for the establishment of epithelial cell polarity during the development in C elegans. Using RNAi to interfere with let-413 and dlg-1 gene functions during post-embryogenesis, we discovered a requirement for LET-413 and DLG-1 in the polarization of the spermathecal cells. The spermatheca forms an accordion-like organ through which eggs must enter to complete the ovulation process. LET-413- and DLG-1-depleted animals exhibit failure of ovulation. Consistent with this phenotype, the assembly of the apical junction into a continuous belt fails and the PAR-3 protein and microfilaments are no longer localized asymmetrically. All these defects can be suppressed by mutations in IPP-5, an inositol polyphosphate 5-phosphatase and in ITR-1, an inositol triphosphate receptor, which both are supposed to increase the intracellular Ca2+ level. Analysis of embryogenesis revealed that IP3/Ca2+ signaling is also required during junction assembly in embryonic epithelia. (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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