Latrophilin signaling links anterior-posterior tissue polarity and oriented cell divisions in the C. elegans embryo.

Journal article

Understanding the mechanisms that coordinate the orientation of cell division planes during embryogenesis and morphogenesis is a fundamental problem in developmental biology. Here we show that the orphan receptor lat-1, a homolog of vertebrate latrophilins, plays an essential role in the establishment of tissue polarity in the C. elegans embryo. We provide evidence that lat-1 is required for the alignment of cell division planes to the anterior-posterior axis and acts in parallel to known polarity and morphogenesis signals. lat-1 is a member of the Adhesion-GPCR protein family and is structurally related to flamingo/CELSR, an essential component of the planar cell polarity pathway. We dissect the molecular requirements of lat-1 signaling and implicate lat-1 in an anterior-posterior tissue polarity pathway in the premorphogenesis stage of C. elegans development.

Authors: Langenhan, T; Prömel, S; Mestek, L; Esmaeili, B; Waller-Evans, H

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Developmental cell
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 494-504
• Publication date: 2009-10-01
• DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2009.08.008
• EISSN: 1878-1551
• ISSN: 1534-5807
• Language: English
• Keywords: Embryo, Nonmammalian; Signal Transduction; Receptors, Peptide; Oogenesis; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Cell Polarity; Spindle Apparatus; Animals; Immunoenzyme Techniques; Organogenesis; Animals, Genetically Modified; RNA, Small Interfering; Embryonic Development; In Situ Hybridization; Cell Division; Caenorhabditis elegans