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Updated: Sep 3, 2026

Investigating the Spreading and Toxicity of Prion-like Proteins Using the Metazoan Model Organism C. elegans
Published on: January 8, 2015
Sequence of an unusually large protein implicated in regulation of myosin activity in C. elegans
G M Benian1, J E Kiff, N Neckelmann
1Department of Pathology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia 30322.
Abstract:
The Caenorhabditis elegans gene unc-22 encodes a very large muscle protein, called twitchin, which consists of a protein kinase domain and several copies of two short motifs. The sequence of twitchin has unexpected similarities to the sequences of proteins of the immunoglobulin superfamily, cell adhesion molecules and vertebrate muscle proteins, including myosin light-chain kinase. These homologies, together with results from earlier genetic and molecular analyses, indicate that twitchin is involved in a novel mechanism of myosin regulation.
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