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 primary pathway employs the MEL-26 substrate adaptor for the CUL-3/cullin-based E3 ubiquitin ligase, which targets MEI-1 for proteosomal degradation. Here, we used quantitative antibody staining to measure MEI-1 levels to determine how other genes implicated in MEI-1 regulation act relative to CUL-3/MEL-26 The anaphase-promoting complex/cyclosome, APC/C, the DYRK (Dual-specificity tyrosine-regulated kinase), MBK-2, and the CUL-2-based E3 ubiquitin ligase act together to degrade MEI-1, in parallel to MEL-26/CUL-3 CUL-2 is known to keep MEL-26 low during meiosis, so CUL-2 apparently changes its target from MEL-26 in meiosis to MEI-1 in mitosis. RFL-1, an activator of cullin E3 ubiquitin ligases, activates CUL-2 but not CUL-3 for MEI-1 elimination. HECD-1 (HECT/Homologous to the E6AP carboxyl terminus domain) E3 ligase acts as a MEI-1 activator in meiosis but functions as an inhibitor during mitosis, without affecting levels of MEI-1 or MEI-2 Our results highlight the multiple layers of MEI-1 regulation that are required during the switch from the meiotic to mitotic modes of cell division.

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. Contraction occurs primarily in the lateral epidermal cells during elongation while the dorsal and ventral epidermal cells have a more passive role, and localized activity of a Rho GEF (guanine exchange factor) could contribute to this asymmetry. We found that loss of the C. elegans Rho GEF encoded by rhgf-2 results in arrest during early elongation. Genetically, rhgf-2 acts as an activator of let-502/Rho-binding kinase, in parallel to fem-2/PP2c phosphatase. Although expressed throughout the embryo, lateral cell-specific RHGF-2 expression can mediate elongation. The Rho GTPase activating protein (GAP) RGA-2 is known to inhibit contraction in the dorsal and ventral epidermis. Although rhgf-2 and rga-2 are individually lethal, the double mutant is viable with elongation still occurring in a let-502 dependent fashion. This indicates that LET-502/Rho-binding kinase has activity independent of the GEF and GAP. Finally, maternal LET-502 and MEL-11 are known to regulate the rate of cleavage furrow ingression in the early embryo and we show that maternal RHGF-2 also influences cleavage but RGA-2 does not. Thus while the LET-502/MEL-11 pathway is employed multiple times during embryogenesis, regulation by GEFs and GAPs differs at different points of the life cycle and fine tunes contractile function.