Caenorhabditis elegans BAH-1 is a DUF23 protein expressed in seam cells and required for microbial biofilm binding to the cuticle.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 19707590.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0006741 and PMC identifier 2727005.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The cuticle of Caenorhabditis elegans, a complex, multi-layered extracellular matrix, is a major interface between the animal and its environment. Biofilms produced by the bacterial genus Yersinia attach to the cuticle of the worm, providing an assay for surface characteristics. A C. elegans gene required for biofilm attachment, bah-1, encodes a protein containing the domain of unknown function DUF23. The DUF23 domain is found in 61 predicted proteins in C. elegans, which can be divided into three distinct phylogenetic clades. bah-1 is expressed in seam cells, which are among the hypodermal cells that synthesize the cuticle, and is regulated by a TGF-beta signaling pathway.
Medical subject headings
- Biofilms
- Caenorhabditis elegans
- Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins