Apical constriction is a cell shape change that drives key morphogenetic events during development, including gastrulation and neural tube formation. The forces driving apical constriction are primarily generated through the contraction of apicolateral and/or medioapical actomyosin networks. In the Drosophila ventral furrow, the medioapical actomyosin network has a sarcomere-like architecture, with radially polarized actin filaments and centrally enriched non-muscle myosin II and myosin activating kinase. To determine if this is a broadly conserved actin architecture driving apical constriction, we examined actomyosin architecture during C. elegans gastrulation, in which two endodermal precursor cells internalize from the surface of the embryo. Quantification of protein localization showed that neither the non-muscle myosin II NMY-2 nor the myosin-activating kinase MRCK-1 is enriched at the center of the apex. Further, visualization of barbed- and pointed-end capping proteins revealed that actin filaments do not exhibit radial polarization at the apex. Our results demonstrate that C. elegans endodermal precursor cells apically constrict using a mixed-polarity actin filament network and with myosin and a myosin activator distributed throughout the network. Taken together with observations made in other organisms, our results demonstrate that diverse actomyosin architectures are used in animal cells to accomplish apical constriction.
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4 September 2023
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June 23 2023
Architecture of the cortical actomyosin network driving apical constriction in C. elegans
Pu Zhang
,
Pu Zhang
*
(Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing)
1Biology Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Taylor N. Medwig-Kinney
,
Taylor N. Medwig-Kinney
*
(Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Visualization, Writing - original draft)
1Biology Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
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Bob Goldstein
1Biology Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
2
Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Correspondence to Bob Goldstein: bobg@unc.edu
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Pu Zhang
Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
*
1Biology Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Taylor N. Medwig-Kinney
Formal analysis, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Visualization, Writing - original draft
*
1Biology Department,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Correspondence to Bob Goldstein: bobg@unc.edu
*
P. Zhang and T.N. Medwig-Kinney contributed equally to this paper.
Disclosures: The authors declare no competing interests exist.
Received:
February 24 2023
Revision Received:
May 24 2023
Accepted:
June 06 2023
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
Funding
Funder(s):
National Institutes of Health
- Award Id(s): R35GM134838
© 2023 Zhang et al.
2023
Zhang et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of an Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike–No Mirror Sites license for the first six months after the publication date (see http://www.rupress.org/terms/). After six months it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution–Noncommercial–Share Alike 4.0 International license, as described at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).
J Cell Biol (2023) 222 (9): e202302102.
Article history
Received:
February 24 2023
Revision Received:
May 24 2023
Accepted:
June 06 2023
Citation
Pu Zhang, Taylor N. Medwig-Kinney, Bob Goldstein; Architecture of the cortical actomyosin network driving apical constriction in C. elegans. J Cell Biol 4 September 2023; 222 (9): e202302102. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.202302102
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