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Originally published as MBC in Press, 10.1091/mbc.E08-01-0028 on July 16, 2008

Vol. 19, Issue 9, 3898-3908, September 2008

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Caenorhabditis elegans Teneurin, ten-1, Is Required for Gonadal and Pharyngeal Basement Membrane Integrity and Acts Redundantly with Integrin ina-1 and Dystroglycan dgn-1

Agnieszka Trzebiatowska*, Ulrike Topf*, Ursula Sauder{dagger}, Krzysztof Drabikowski*, and Ruth Chiquet-Ehrismann*

*Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research, Novartis Research Foundation, CH-4058 Basel, Switzerland; and {dagger}Microscopy Center, Pharmazentrum, University of Basel, CH-4056 Basel, Switzerland

Submitted January 14, 2008; Revised June 27, 2008; Accepted July 1, 2008
Monitoring Editor: Jean E. Schwarzbauer

InCytes from MBC

The Caenorhabditis elegans teneurin ortholog, ten-1, plays an important role in gonad and pharynx development. We found that lack of TEN-1 does not affect germline proliferation but leads to local basement membrane deficiency and early gonad disruption. Teneurin is expressed in the somatic precursor cells of the gonad that appear to be crucial for gonad epithelialization and basement membrane integrity. Ten-1 null mutants also arrest as L1 larvae with malformed pharynges and disorganized pharyngeal basement membranes. The pleiotropic phenotype of ten-1 mutant worms is similar to defects found in basement membrane receptor mutants ina-1 and dgn-1 as well as in the mutants of the extracellular matrix component laminin, epi-1. We show that the ten-1 mutation is synthetic lethal with mutations of genes encoding basement membrane components and receptors due to pharyngeal or hypodermal defects. This indicates that TEN-1 could act redundantly with integrin INA-1, dystroglycan DGN-1, and laminin EPI-1 in C. elegans development. Moreover, ten-1 deletion sensitizes worms to loss of nidogen nid-1 causing a pharynx unattached phenotype in ten-1;nid-1 double mutants. We conclude that TEN-1 is important for basement membrane maintenance and/or adhesion in particular organs and affects the function of somatic gonad precursor cells.

This was published online ahead of print in MBC in Press (http://www.molbiolcell.org/cgi/doi/10.1091/mbc.E08-01-0028) on July 16, 2008.

Address correspondence to: Ruth Chiquet-Ehrismann (Ruth.Chiquet{at}fmi.ch)

Abbreviations used: BM, basement membrane; DIC, differential interference contrast; L1, first larval stage; L2, second larval stage; L3, third larval stage; L4, fourth larval stage; Pun, pharynx unattached; SGP, somatic gonad precursor cells.


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InCytes from MBC, September 2008

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