Regulation of the MEI-1/MEI-2 Microtubule-Severing Katanin Complex in Early Caenorhabditis elegans Development.

After fertilization, rapid changes of the Caenorhabditis elegans cytoskeleton occur in the transition from meiosis to mitosis, requiring precise regulation. The MEI-1/MEI-2 katanin microtubule-severing complex is essential for meiotic spindle formation but must be quickly inactivated to allow for proper formation of the mitotic spindle. MEI-1/MEI-2 inactivation is dependent on multiple redundant pathways.

The Rho guanine exchange factor RHGF-2 acts through the Rho-binding kinase LET-502 to mediate embryonic elongation in C. elegans.

Morphogenesis allows an organism to develop its final body shape. In Caenorhabditis elegans, a smooth muscle-like contraction of an actin/myosin network in the epidermis mediates the elongation of the worm embryo from a ball of cells into a long, thin worm. This process is controlled by two redundant pathways, one involving the small GTPase RHO-1 and its downstream effectors LET-502/Rho-binding kinase and MEL-11/myosin phosphatase, and another involving PAK-1/p21 activated kinase and FEM-2/PP2c phosphatase.