Pat-12, an atypical Pat protein involved in fibrous organelles in C. elegans

Forces generated by body wall muscles of Caenorhabditis elegans must be transmitted across the worm’s thin hypodermis or “skin” to the cuticle during locomotion. Fibrous organelles (FOs), structures analogous to vertebrate hemidesmosomes, link intermediate filaments to both the apical and basal membrane of the hypodermal cells and form key elements in this force transduction pathway. Here we molecularly isolate the pat-12 gene and show that it encodes a component of the fibrous organelles. The pat-12 gene was identified through the pat-12(st430) mutation, which causes the embryonic body wall muscle cells to rip free from the body wall soon after they first begin to contract during mid-embryogenesis. The pat-12 gene, which corresponds to the complex proposed gene T17H7.4, is predicted to encode 12 different isoforms. The st430 mutation alters the conserved splice acceptor site of exon 12. The PAT-12 protein localizes to hypodermal cells in wild-type embryos, but is absent in st430 homozygotes. Here, we show that two of the four isoforms that normally include exon 12 localize to circumferential hypodermal bands characteristic of fibrous organelle components. Furthermore, we propose that PAT-12 forms part of a linkage between the fibrous organelles and the circumferential actin bands (CFB).

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Cell and Developmental Biology

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2013

Author dc:creator

• Rhine, Jonathan

Contributors dc:contributor

• Williams, Benjamin
• Bellini, Michel
• Newmark, Phillip A.
• Cox, Lee C.
• Smith-Bolton, Rachel

• pat-12
• elegans
• hemidesmosomes
• integrin
• hypodermis
• fibrous organelle

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2013 Jonathan Rhine

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/44269

OAI record oai:identifier

https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=etdms&identifier=oai%3Awww.ideals.illinois.edu%3A2142%2F44269