UNC-52 localization with respect to longitudinal axon tracts in the ventral and dorsal nerve cords in C. elegans
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Updated: Jul 12, 2026

Dissecting and Recording from The C. Elegans Neuromuscular Junction
Published on: February 25, 2009
Debapriya Roy1, Harald Hutter1
1Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University.
Abstract:
UNC-52 /Perlecan is a core basement membrane (BM) component essential for connecting muscle cells to overlying hypodermal cells. In the nervous system of C. elegans , unc-52 ( ra515 ) causes dendritic branching defects in the PVD neuron independent of muscle attachment defects. We found that unc-52 ( ra515 ) also causes axon navigation defects in the ventral nerve cord (VNC). We then examined the localization of UNC-52 with respect to ventral and dorsal nerve cord (DNC) axon tracts. We found that UNC-52 is localized underneath muscle cells as previously observed but is absent from BMs surrounding ventral and dorsal axon tracts at all stages of development.
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