1. Cell Biology
  2. Developmental Biology
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LINKIN, a new transmembrane protein necessary for cell adhesion

  1. Mihoko Kato
  2. Tsui-Fen Chou
  3. Collin Z Yu
  4. John A DeModena
  5. Paul W Sternberg  Is a corresponding author
  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, United States
  2. University of California, San Francisco, United States
Research Article
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Cite this article as: eLife 2014;3:e04449 doi: 10.7554/eLife.04449

Abstract

In epithelial collective migration, leader and follower cells migrate while maintaining cell-cell adhesion and tissue polarity. We have identified a conserved protein and interactors required for maintaining cell adhesion during a simple collective migration in the developing C. elegans male gonad. LINKIN is a previously uncharacterized, transmembrane protein conserved throughout Metazoa. We identified seven atypical FG-GAP domains in the extracellular domain, which potentially folds into a β-propeller structure resembling the α-integrin ligand-binding domain. C. elegans LNKN-1 localizes to the plasma membrane of all gonadal cells, with apical and lateral bias. We identified the LINKIN interactors RUVBL1, RUVBL2, and α-tubulin by using SILAC mass spectrometry on human HEK 293T cells and testing candidates for lnkn-1-like function in C. elegans male gonad. We propose that LINKIN promotes adhesion between neighboring cells through its extracellular domain and regulates microtubule dynamics through RUVBL proteins at its intracellular domain.

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Author details

  1. Mihoko Kato

    Division of Biology and BIological Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  2. Tsui-Fen Chou

    Division of Biology and BIological Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  3. Collin Z Yu

    School of Pharmacy, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  4. John A DeModena

    Division of Biology and BIological Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

  5. Paul W Sternberg

    Division of Biology and BIological Engineering, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
    For correspondence
    pws@caltech.edu
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Reviewing Editor

  1. Janet Rossant, University of Toronto, Canada

Publication history

  1. Received: August 21, 2014
  2. Accepted: November 28, 2014
  3. Accepted Manuscript published: December 1, 2014 (version 1)
  4. Version of Record published: December 24, 2014 (version 2)

Copyright

© 2014, Kato et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

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