TY - JOUR
T1 - The PAF1 complex is involved in embryonic epidermal morphogenesis in Caenorhabditis elegans
AU - Kubota, Yukihiko
AU - Tsuyama, Kenji
AU - Takabayashi, Yusuke
AU - Haruta, Nami
AU - Maruyama, Rika
AU - Iida, Naoko
AU - Sugimoto, Asako
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Y. Kohara for kindly providing cDNA clones, and members of the Sugimoto׳s lab for discussions. We thank Aya Katsuyama and Hiroko Sugawara for technical assistance. Some of the worm strains used in this study were provided by the Caenorhabditis Genetics Center, which is funded by the USA National Institutes of Health (NIH) National Center for Research Resources, the C. elegans Gene Knockout Consortium and the National Bioresource Project in Japan lead by S. Mitani. This work was supported by the NEXT Program LS006 from the Cabinet Office, the Government of Japan to A.S., by JSPS KAKENHI 23657139 to Y.K., and by Narishige Zoological Science Award to Y.K. Appendix A
PY - 2014/7/1
Y1 - 2014/7/1
N2 - The PAF1 complex (PAF1C) is an evolutionarily conserved protein complex involved in transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling. How the PAF1C is involved in animal development is still not well understood. Here, we report that, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the PAF1C is involved in epidermal morphogenesis in late embryogenesis. From an RNAi screen we identified the C. elegans ortholog of a component of the PAF1C, CTR-9, as a gene whose depletion caused various defects during embryonic epidermal morphogenesis, including epidermal cell positioning, ventral enclosure and epidermal elongation. RNAi of orthologs of other four components of the PAF1C (PAFO-1, LEO-1, CDC-73 and RTFO-1) caused similar epidermal defects. In these embryos, whereas the number and cell fate determination of epidermal cells were apparently unaffected, their position and shape were severely disorganized. PAFO-1::mCherry, mCherry::LEO-1 and GFP::RTFO-1 driven by the authentic promoters were detected in the nuclei of a wide range of cells. Nuclear localization of GFP::RTFO-1 was independent of other PAF1C components, while PAFO-1::mCherry and mCherry::LEO-1 dependent on other components except RTFO-1. Epidermis-specific expression of mCherry::LEO-1 rescued embryonic lethality of the leo-1 deletion mutant. Thus, although the PAF1C is universally expressed in C. elegans embryos, its epidermal function is crucial for the viability of this animal.
AB - The PAF1 complex (PAF1C) is an evolutionarily conserved protein complex involved in transcriptional regulation and chromatin remodeling. How the PAF1C is involved in animal development is still not well understood. Here, we report that, in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the PAF1C is involved in epidermal morphogenesis in late embryogenesis. From an RNAi screen we identified the C. elegans ortholog of a component of the PAF1C, CTR-9, as a gene whose depletion caused various defects during embryonic epidermal morphogenesis, including epidermal cell positioning, ventral enclosure and epidermal elongation. RNAi of orthologs of other four components of the PAF1C (PAFO-1, LEO-1, CDC-73 and RTFO-1) caused similar epidermal defects. In these embryos, whereas the number and cell fate determination of epidermal cells were apparently unaffected, their position and shape were severely disorganized. PAFO-1::mCherry, mCherry::LEO-1 and GFP::RTFO-1 driven by the authentic promoters were detected in the nuclei of a wide range of cells. Nuclear localization of GFP::RTFO-1 was independent of other PAF1C components, while PAFO-1::mCherry and mCherry::LEO-1 dependent on other components except RTFO-1. Epidermis-specific expression of mCherry::LEO-1 rescued embryonic lethality of the leo-1 deletion mutant. Thus, although the PAF1C is universally expressed in C. elegans embryos, its epidermal function is crucial for the viability of this animal.
KW - Caenorhabditis elegans
KW - Embryogenesis
KW - Epidermal morphogenesis
KW - PAF1 complex
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.04.002
DO - 10.1016/j.ydbio.2014.04.002
M3 - Article
C2 - 24721716
AN - SCOPUS:84899937257
VL - 391
SP - 43
EP - 53
JO - Developmental Biology
JF - Developmental Biology
SN - 0012-1606
IS - 1
ER -