The TOCA family of F-BAR-containing proteins bind to and remodel lipid bilayers via their conserved F-BAR domains, and regulate actin dynamics via their N-Wasp binding SH3 domains. Thus, these proteins are predicted to play a pivotal role in coordinating membrane traffic with actin dynamics during cell migration and tissue morphogenesis. By combining genetic analysis in Caenorhabditis elegans w...

Drosophila laminin was isolated from the medium of Drosophila Kc cell cultures. It was purified by velocity sedimentation, gel filtration, and chromatography. Drosophila laminin is a disulfide-linked molecule consisting of three chains with apparent molecular masses of 400, 215, and 185 kD. In electron micrographs, it has the cross-shaped appearance with globular domains characteristic of verte...

A common feature of multicellular animals is the ubiquitous presence of the spectrin cytoskeleton. Although discovered over 30 yr ago, the function of spectrin in non-erythrocytes has remained elusive. We have found that the spc-1 gene encodes the only alpha spectrin gene in the Caenorhabditis elegans genome. During embryogenesis, alpha spectrin localizes to the cell membrane in most if not all...

Two monoclonal antibodies (McAbs) generated against rhamnogalacturonan I and characterized as specific for a terminal [alpha]-(1->2)-linked fucosyl-containing epitope (CCRC-M1) and for an arabinosylated [beta]-(1,6)-galactan epitope (CCRC-M7) were used in immunogold experiments to determine the distribution of the epitopes in four plants. Allium porrum, Zea mays, Trifolium repens, and Nicotiana...

Calcineurin is a Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent serine/threonine protein phosphatase that has been implicated in various signaling pathways. Here we report the identification and characterization of calcineurin genes in Caenorhabditis elegans (cna-1 and cnb-1), which share high homology with Drosophila and mammalian calcineurin genes. C. elegans calcineurin binds calcium and functions as a heterod...

In this report, we demonstrate that C. elegans mab-2 mutants have defects in the development of a male-specific sense organ because of a failure in the proliferation of the stem cell-like lateral hypodermal (seam) cells. We show, by positional cloning, that mab-2 encodes RNT-1, the only C. elegans member of the Runx family of transcriptional regulators, which are postulated to act both as oncog...

Fibroblasts have shown to be an immune competent cell type in mammals. However, little is known about the immunological functions of this cell-type in lower vertebrates. A rainbow trout hypodermal fibroblast cell-line (RTHDF) was shown to be responsive to PAMPs and DAMPs after stimulation with LPS from E. coli, supernatant and debris from sonicated RTHDF cells. LPS was overall the strongest ind...

Mammalian p300 and CBP are related transcriptional cofactors that possess histone acetyltransferase activity. Inactivation of CBP/p300 is critical for adenovirus E1A to induce oncogenic transformation and to inhibit differentiation, suggesting that these proteins are likely to play a role in cell growth and differentiation. Here we show that a Caenorhabditis elegans gene closely related to CBP/...