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PMID: 17488621 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

AFF-1, a FOS-1-regulated fusogen, mediates fusion of the anchor cell in C. elegans.

Developmental cell ·Vol. 12 ·No. 5 ·2007-05-00 ·Pages 683-98

Sapir A, Choi J, Leikina E, Avinoam O, Valansi C, Chernomordik LV, Newman AP, Podbilewicz B

Abstract

Cell fusion is fundamental for reproduction and organ formation. Fusion between most C. elegans epithelial cells is mediated by the EFF-1 fusogen. However, fusion between the anchor cell and the utse syncytium that establishes a continuous uterine-vulval tube proceeds normally in eff-1 mutants. By isolating mutants where the anchor-cell fails to fuse, we identified aff-1. AFF-1 ectopic expression results in fusion of cells that normally do not fuse in C. elegans. The fusogen activity of AFF-1 was further confirmed by its ability to fuse heterologous cells. AFF-1 and EFF-1 differ in their fusogenic activity and expression patterns but share eight conserved predicted disulfide bonds in their ectodomains, including a putative TGF-beta-type-I-Receptor domain. We found that FOS-1, the Fos transcription factor ortholog that controls anchor-cell invasion during nematode development, is a specific activator of aff-1-mediated anchor-cell fusion. Thus, FOS-1 links cell invasion and fusion in a developmental cascade.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Animals Caenorhabditis elegans/cytology,embryology,metabolism Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins/chemistry,metabolism Cell Fusion Cytoplasm/metabolism Embryo, Nonmammalian/cytology Epithelial Cells/cytology Female Insecta/cytology Models, Biological Molecular Sequence Data Mutation/genetics Phenotype Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/chemistry,metabolism Transcription Factors/chemistry,metabolism Vulva/cytology,growth & development
Chemicals
AFF-1 protein, C elegans Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins FOS-1 protein, C elegans Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos Transcription Factors
Authors & Affiliations
8 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Sapir Amir
Department of Biology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa 32000, Israel.
Choi Jaebok
Leikina Evgenia
Avinoam Ori
Valansi Clari
Chernomordik Leonid V
Newman Anna P
Podbilewicz Benjamin
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Article Info
Journal
Developmental cell
Abbr.
Dev Cell
ISSN
1534-5807
DOI
10.1016/j.devcel.2007.03.003
Published
2007-05-00
Pages
683-98
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
101120028
PMCID
PMC1975806
Subset
IM
Grants
Intramural NIH HHS · Z01 HD001501-14 · United States
Intramural NIH HHS · Z01 HD001501-16 · United States
Databases
GENBANK
EF205023
Corrections
CommentIn
PMID: 17488618
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2007.03.003 PMC Full Text View journal details
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