IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v399y1999i6736d10.1038_21196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Control of organ shape by a secreted metalloprotease in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans

Author

Listed:
  • Robert Blelloch

    (Program in Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

  • Judith Kimble

    (University of Wisconsin-Madison
    Medical Genetics and Laboratory of Molecular Biology, University of Wisconsin-Madison)

Abstract

The molecular controls governing organ shape are poorly understood. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the gonad acquires a U-shape by the directed migration of a specialized ‘leader’ cell, which is located at the tip of the growing gonadal ‘arm’1. The gon-1 gene is essential for gonadal morphogenesis: ingon-1 mutants, no arm elongation occurs and somatic gonadal structures are severely malformed2. Here we report that gon-1 encodes a secreted protein with a metalloprotease domain and multiple thrombospondin type-1-like repeats. This motif architecture is typical of a small family of genes that include bovine procollagen I N-protease (P1NP), which cleaves collagen3, and murine ADAMTS-1, the expression of which correlates with tumour cell progression4. We find that gon-1 is expressed in two sites, leader cells and muscle, and that expression in each site has a unique role in forming the gonad. We speculate that GON-1 controls morphogenesis by remodelling basement membranes and that regulation of its activity is crucial for achieving organ shape.

Suggested Citation

  • Robert Blelloch & Judith Kimble, 1999. "Control of organ shape by a secreted metalloprotease in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans," Nature, Nature, vol. 399(6736), pages 586-590, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:399:y:1999:i:6736:d:10.1038_21196
    DOI: 10.1038/21196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/21196
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/21196?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:399:y:1999:i:6736:d:10.1038_21196. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.