Embryonic gut differentiation in nematodes: endocytosis of macromolecules and its experimental inhibition

During embryogenesis of Caenorhabditis elegans cytoplasmic components are transferred from nongut cells into the developing gut primordium and an exo/endocytosis mechanism has been hypothesized (Bossinger and Schierenberg 1992). To test endocytotic activity of the gut primordium, we compared the uptake of different fluorochrome-conjugated marker molecules in two nematode species, C. elegans and Cephalobus spec., which differ in the pattern of early cleavage and cell-cell communication. We found no uptake of dextran (as a marker for pinocytosis) but rapid internalization of 30-fold larger transferrin molecules (as a marker for receptor-coupled endocytosis) into the differentiating gut primordium in both nematodes. The two studied species differ with respect to when this process starts. While the uptake of macromolecules in the fast developing C. elegans is first observed at a stage when essentially all cells of the hatching juvenile have been generated, in the slow developing Cephalobus endocytosis begins during the early proliferation phase when only two gut precursor cells are present. We found that the polysulfated hydrocarbon dye trypan blue and the cationic amphiphilic drug chlorpromazine both inhibit endocytosis into the gut primodium.