Access

Letter

Nature Cell Biology 6, 31–37 (1 January 2004) | doi:10.1038/ncb1079

An NDPase links ADAM protease glycosylation with organ morphogenesis in C. elegans

Kiyoji Nishiwaki , Yukihiko Kubota , Yuko Chigira , Samir Kumar Roy , Maho Suzuki , Mara Schvarzstein , Yoshifumi Jigami , Naoki Hisamoto & Kunihiro Matsumoto

In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the gonad acquires two U-shaped arms through the directed migration of its distal tip cells (DTCs), which are located at the tip of the growing gonad arms. A member of the ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) family, MIG-17, regulates directional migration of DTCs: MIG-17 is synthesized and secreted from the muscle cells of the body wall, and diffuses to the gonad where it is required for DTC migration.