ArticleLumen Morphogenesis in C . elegans Requires the Membrane - Cytoskeleton Linker erm

in epithelial integrity, polarity, and junction formation was suggested for the Drosophila ERM ortholog Dmoesin, which was proposed to act by antagonizing rho signaling rather than by providing a structural function (Polesello et al., 2002; Speck et al., 2003). A role of ERM Verena Göbel,1,* Peter L. Barrett,1 David H. Hall,2 and John T. Fleming1 Laboratory of Developmental Immunology Massachusetts General Hospital and Department of Pediatrics Harvard Medical School proteins in tubulogenesis has not yet been identified in any species in vivo. C. elegans has only one ancestral 55 Fruit Street Boston, Massachusetts 02114 ortholog to the ERM family, facilitating in vivo analysis. Here we describe a structural role for the C. elegans 2 Center for C. elegans Anatomy Department of Neuroscience ERM ortholog in luminal membrane morphogenesis, apparently independent of polarity and junction formation. Albert Einstein College of Medicine 1410 Pelham Parkway Bronx, New York 10461 Results and Discussion