The Caenorhabditis elegans SMOC-1 Protein Acts Cell Nonautonomously To Promote Bone Morphogenetic Protein Signaling.

ABSTRACT: Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling regulates many different developmental and homeostatic processes in metazoans. The BMP pathway is conserved in Caenorhabditis elegans, and is known to regulate body size and mesoderm development. We have identified the C. elegans smoc-1 (Secreted MOdular Calcium-binding protein-1) gene as a new player in the BMP pathway. smoc-1(0) mutants have a small body size, while overexpression of smoc-1 leads to a long body size and increased expression of the RAD-SMAD (reporter acting downstream of SMAD) BMP reporter, suggesting that SMOC-1 acts as a positive modulator of BMP signaling. Using double-mutant analysis, we showed that SMOC-1 antagonizes the function of the glypican LON-2 and acts through the BMP ligand DBL-1 to regul

SUBMITTER: DeGroot MS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6366928 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature