Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 30, 2026

Visualizing Neuroblast Cytokinesis During C. elegans Embryogenesis
Published on: March 12, 2014
C. elegans ankyrin repeat protein VAB-19 is a component of epidermal attachment structures and is essential for
Mei Ding1, Alexandr Goncharov, Yishi Jin
1Sinsheimer Laboratories, Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
Abstract:
Elongation of the epidermis of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans involves both actomyosin-mediated changes in lateral epidermal cell shape and body muscle attachment to dorsal and ventral epidermal cells via intermediate-filament/hemidesmosome structures. vab-19 mutants are defective in epidermal elongation and muscle attachment to the epidermis. VAB-19 is a member of a conserved family of ankyrin repeat-containing proteins that includes the human tumor suppressor Kank. In epidermal cells, VAB-19::GFP localizes with components of epidermal attachment structures. In vab-19 mutants, epidermal attachment structures form normally but do not remain localized to muscle-adjacent regions of the epidermis. VAB-19 localization requires function of the transmembrane attachment structure component Myotactin. vab-19 mutants also display aberrant actin organization in the epidermis. Loss of function in the spectrin SMA-1 partly bypasses the requirement for VAB-19 in elongation, suggesting that VAB-19 and SMA-1/spectrin might play antagonistic roles in regulation of the actin cytoskeleton.
More Related Videos
12:15The C. elegans Intestine As a Model for Intercellular Lumen Morphogenesis and In Vivo Polarized Membrane Biogenesis at the Single-cell Level: Labeling by Antibody Staining, RNAi Loss-of-function Analysis and Imaging
Published on: October 3, 2017
09:53Whole-mount Immunohistochemical Analysis for Embryonic Limb Skin Vasculature: a Model System to Study Vascular Branching Morphogenesis in Embryo
Published on: May 20, 2011
Related Concept Videos
Anchoring Junctions
Tension Response at Adherens Junctions
α-Catenin as a Mechanosensory Protein
The α-catenin of adherens junctions is an allosteric protein with three VH (vinculin homology) domains...
Adherens Junctions
Adherens Junctions are Dynamic
The endothelial cells...
Regulation of Angiogenesis and Blood Supply
Integrins
Some ECM proteins assemble into a basement membrane to which the remaining components adhere. Proteoglycans typically form the bulk of the ECM while fibrous proteins, like collagen,...
Mechanism of Lamellipodia Formation