@article{180296,
  keywords = {Animals, signal transduction, Caenorhabditis elegans, Cell Movement, Cytoplasm, Organ Specificity, Integrin alpha Chains},
  author = {Christopher Meighan and Jean Schwarzbauer},
  title = {α Integrin cytoplasmic tails have tissue-specific roles during C. elegans development},
  abstract = { Integrin signaling impacts many developmental processes. The complexity of these signals increases when multiple, unique integrin heterodimers are expressed during a single developmental event. Since integrin heterodimers have different signaling capabilities, the signals originating at each integrin type must be separated in the cell. C. elegans have two integrin heterodimers, α INA-1/β PAT-3 and α PAT-2/β PAT-3, which are expressed individually or simultaneously, based on tissue type. We used chimeric α integrins to assess the role of α integrin cytoplasmic tails during development. Chimeric integrin ina-1 with the pat-2 cytoplasmic tail rescued lethality and maintained neuron fasciculation in an ina-1 mutant. Interestingly, the pat-2 tail was unable to completely restore distal tip cell migration and vulva morphogenesis. Chimeric integrin pat-2 with the ina-1 cytoplasmic tail had a limited ability to rescue a lethal mutation in pat-2, with survivors showing aberrant muscle organization, yet normal distal tip cell migration. In a wild type background, α integrin pat-2 with the ina-1 cytoplasmic tail had a dominant negative effect which induced muscle disorganization, cell migration defects and lethality. These results show the α integrin cytoplasmic tails impact unique cellular behaviors that vary by tissue type during development.  },
  year = {2014},
  journal = {Int J Dev Biol},
  volume = {58},
  pages = {325-33},
  issn = {1696-3547},
  doi = {10.1387/ijdb.130327cm},
  language = {eng},
}