A spatiotemporal reconstruction of the C. elegans pharyngeal cuticle reveals a structure rich in phase-separating proteins

• DOI: 10.7554/elife.79396
• Publication Date: 2022-10-19T10:00:16Z
• Authors: Muntasir Kamal; Levon Tokmakjian; Jessica Knox; Peter Mastrangelo; Jingxiu Ji; Hao Cai; Jakub W Wojciecho...; Michael P Hughes; Kristóf Takács; Xiaoquan Chu; Jianfeng Pei; Vince Grolmusz; Malgorzata Kotulska; Julie Deborah For...; Peter J Roy
• Keywords: Cuticle (hair)

How the cuticles of roughly 4.5 million species ecdysozoan animals are constructed is not well understood. Here, we systematically mine gene expression datasets to uncover spatiotemporal blueprint for how chitin-based pharyngeal cuticle nematode Caenorhabditis elegans built. We demonstrate that correctly predicts patterns and functional relevance development. find as larvae prepare molt, catabolic enzymes upregulated genes encode chitin synthase, cross-linkers, homologs amyloid regulators subsequently peak in expression. Forty-eight percent products secreted during molt predicted be intrinsically disordered proteins (IDPs), many which belong four distinct families whose transcripts expressed overlapping waves. These include IDPAs, IDPBs, IDPCs, introduced first time here. All have sequence properties drive phase separation one exemplar vitro. This systematic analysis represents construction highlights massive contribution phase-separating materials make structure.