No abstract

Summary α-catenin is central to recruitment of actin networks to the cadherin-catenin complex (CCC) [1, 2], but how such networks are subsequently stabilized against applied stress during morphogenesis is poorly understood. To identify proteins that functionally interact with α-catenin in this process, we performed enhancer screening using a weak allele of the C. elegans α-catenin, hmp-1, and identified UNC-94/tropomodulin. Tropomodulins (Tmods) cap the minus ends of F-actin in sarcomeres [3]. They also regulate lamellipodia [4], can promote actin nucleation [5], and are required for normal cardiovascular development [6, 7] and neuronal growth cone morphology [8]. Tmods regulate the morphology of cultured epithelial cells [9], but their role in epithelia in vivo remains unexplored. We find that UNC-94 is enriched within a HMP-1-dependent junctional actin network at epidermal adherens junctions subject to stress during morphogenesis. Loss of UNC-94 leads to discontinuity of this network, and high-speed filming of hmp-1(fe4);unc-94(RNAi) embryos reveals large junctional displacements that depend on the Rho pathway. In vitro, UNC-94 acts in combination with HMP-1, leading to longer actin bundles than with HMP-1 alone. Our data suggest Tmods protect actin filaments recruited by α-catenin from minus-end subunit loss, enabling them to withstand the stresses of morphogenesis.

Embryos from females homozygous for a recessive maternal-effect mutation in the gene aura exhibit defects including reduced cortical integrity, defective cortical granule (CG) release upon egg activation, failure to complete cytokinesis, and abnormal cell wound healing. Subcellular analysis shows that the cytokinesis defects observed in aura mutants are associated with aberrant cytoskeletal reorganization during furrow maturation, including abnormal F-actin enrichment and microtubule reorganization. Cortical F-actin prior to furrow formation fails to exhibit a normal transition into F-actin-rich arcs, and drug inhibition is consistent with aura function promoting F-actin polymerization and/or stabilization. In mutants, components of exocytic and endocytic vesicles, such as Vamp2, Clathrin and Dynamin, are sequestered in unreleased CGs, indicating a need for CG recycling in the normal redistribution of these factors. However, the exocytic targeting factor Rab11 is recruited to the furrow plane normally at the tip of bundling microtubules, suggesting an alternate anchoring mechanism independent of membrane recycling. A positional cloning approach indicates that the mutation in aura is associated with a truncation of Mid1 Interacting Protein 1L (Mid1ip1L), previously identified as an interactor of the X-linked Opitz G/BBB syndrome gene Mid1. A Cas9/CRISPR-induced mutant allele in mid1ip1L fails to complement the originally isolated aura maternal-effect mutation, confirming gene assignment. Mid1ip1L protein localizes to cortical F-actin aggregates, consistent with a direct role in cytoskeletal regulation. Our studies indicate that maternally provided aura/mid1ip1L acts during the reorganization of the cytoskeleton at the egg-to-embryo transition and highlight the importance of cytoskeletal dynamics and membrane recycling during this developmental period.