The development of all animals is characterized
by striking changes in morphology. One important morphogenetic process
involves the invagination of epithelial sheets. To analyze the molecular
genetic basis of epithelial invagination, we are isolating and characterizing
C. elegans mutants defective in the invagination of the epithelium
that forms the vulva. To date, our mutants have defined eight genes,
all of which also function in embryogenesis. We have characterized
all eight genes molecularly and found that they encode components
of a glycosylation pathway responsible for the biosynthesis of a glycosaminoglycan
(GAG). These observations reveal that epithelial invagination and
embryogenesis involve GAGs and provide a system for the genetic analysis
of a glycosylation pathway involved in animal development. The human
homolog of one of these eight genes, sqv-3, has been implicated
in Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a human connective tissue and aging disorder.
Nomarski photoicrographs showing a
comparison between a fourth larval stage (A) wild type animal and
a (B) sqv-4 mutant, which is defective in the morphogenesis
of the vulval opening.
Publications:
Morphogenesis
Abstracts:
Morphogenesis
