Published online 16 October 2006. doi:10.1083/jcb.200608061
The Rockefeller University Press, 0021-9525 $8.00
JCB, Volume 175, Number 2, 217-223
Growth control by EGF repeats of the C. elegans Fibulin-1C isoform
Daniel Hesselson1 and
Judith Kimble1,2,3
1 Department of Genetics, 2 Department of Biochemistry, and 3 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI 53706
Correspondence to Judith Kimble: jekimble{at}wisc.edu
Fibulin is a broadly conserved component of the extracellular matrix (ECM). Previous studies have shown that Caenorhabditis elegans FIBULIN-1 (FBL-1) controls the width of the gonad (Hesselson, D., C. Newman, K.W. Kim, and J. Kimble. 2004. Curr. Biol. 14:20052010; Kubota, Y., R. Kuroki, and K. Nishiwaki. 2004. Curr. Biol. 14:20112018; Muriel, J.M., C. Dong, H. Hutter, and B.E. Vogel. 2005. Development. 132: 42234234). In this study, we report that FBL-1 also controls developmental growth and that one isoform of fibulin-1, called FBL-1C, controls both functions by distinct mechanisms. A large FBL-1C fragment, including both epidermal growth factor (EGF) and fibulin-type C domains, is responsible for constraining gonadal width, but a much smaller fragment containing only two complete EGF repeats (EGF1-2C+) is critical for developmental growth. We suggest that the larger fragment serves a scaffolding function to stabilize the basement membrane and that the smaller fragment provides a regulatory function at the cell surface or within the ECM to control growth.
Abbreviations used in this paper: AT, anaphylatoxin; FBL, FIBULIN; FIB, fibulin type.

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