Chondroitin proteoglycans are involved in cell division of Caenorhabditis elegans

Souhei Mizuguchi, Toru Uyama, Hiroshi Kitagawa, Kazuko H. Nomura, Katsufumi Dejima, Keiko Gengyo-Ando, Shohei Mitani, Kazuyuki Sugahara () and Kazuya Nomura ()
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Souhei Mizuguchi: Kyushu University
Toru Uyama: Kobe Pharmaceutical University
Hiroshi Kitagawa: Kobe Pharmaceutical University
Kazuko H. Nomura: Kyushu University
Katsufumi Dejima: Kyushu University
Keiko Gengyo-Ando: Tokyo Women's Medical University School of Medicine
Shohei Mitani: PRESTO (Japan Science and Technology Corporation) Kawaguchi Center Bldg
Kazuyuki Sugahara: Kobe Pharmaceutical University
Kazuya Nomura: Kyushu University

Nature, 2003, vol. 423, issue 6938, 443-448

Abstract: Abstract Glycosaminoglycans such as heparan sulphate and chondroitin sulphate are extracellular sugar chains involved in intercellular signalling. Disruptions of genes encoding enzymes that mediate glycosaminoglycan biosynthesis have severe consequences in Drosophila and mice1,2,3,4,5. Mutations in the Drosophila gene sugarless, which encodes a UDP-glucose dehydrogenase, impairs developmental signalling through the Wnt family member Wingless, and signalling by the fibroblast growth factor and Hedgehog pathways. Heparan sulphate is involved in these pathways6,7,8, but little is known about the involvement of chondroitin. Undersulphated and oversulphated chondroitin sulphate chains have been implicated in other biological processes, however, including adhesion of erythrocytes infected with malaria parasite to human placenta and regulation of neural development9,10. To investigate chondroitin functions, we cloned a chondroitin synthase homologue of Caenorhabditis elegans and depleted expression of its product by RNA-mediated interference and deletion mutagenesis. Here we report that blocking chondroitin synthesis results in cytokinesis defects in early embryogenesis. Reversion of cytokinesis is often observed in chondroitin-depleted embryos, and cell division eventually stops, resulting in early embryonic death. Our findings show that chondroitin is required for embryonic cytokinesis and cell division.

Date: 2003
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DOI: 10.1038/nature01635

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