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Updated: Jun 13, 2026

Quantitative Approaches for Studying Cellular Structures and Organelle Morphology in Caenorhabditis elegans
Published on: July 5, 2019
Molecular structure of sarcomere-to-membrane attachment at M-Lines in C. elegans muscle
1Department of Pathology, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
Abstract:
C. elegans is an excellent model for studying nonmuscle cell focal adhesions and the analogous muscle cell attachment structures. In the major striated muscle of this nematode, all of the M-lines and the Z-disk analogs (dense bodies) are attached to the muscle cell membrane and underlying extracellular matrix. Accumulating at these sites are many proteins associated with integrin. We have found that nematode M-lines contain a set of protein complexes that link integrin-associated proteins to myosin thick filaments. We have also obtained evidence for intriguing additional functions for these muscle cell attachment proteins.
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