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Calreticulin (CRT), a Ca(2+)-binding protein known to have many cellular functions, including regulation of Ca(2+) homoeostasis and chaperone activity, is essential for heart and brain development during embryogenesis in mice. Here, we report the functional characterization of Caenorhabditis elegans calreticulin (crt-1). A crt-1 null mutant does not result in embryonic lethality but shows temperature-dependent reproduction defects. In C. elegans CRT-1 is expressed in the intestine, pharynx, body-wall muscles, head neurons, coelomocytes, and in sperm. crt-1 males exhibit reduced mating efficiency and defects late in sperm development in addition to defects in oocyte development and/or somatic gonad function in hermaphrodites. Furthermore, crt-1 and itr-1 (inositol triphosphate receptor) together are required for normal behavioral rhythms. crt-1 transcript level is elevated under stress conditions, suggesting that CRT-1 may be important for stress-induced chaperoning function in C. elegans.

We study the formation of self-assembled InGaAs quantum dots on GaAs substrate with a sub-micron platinum stripe pattern. Islands or quantum dots preferentially nucleate at the boundary of metal patterns. In addition, island density reduced region near the boundary of the metal pattern is found. Those results are attributed to the stress between metal stripe and GaAs surface, which produces a laterally stressed region around the metal stripe. Adatoms on this region preferentially migrate toward the edge of metal stripes with maximum stress. This result may show a possible way for the interconnection between randomly distributed self-assembled quantum dots and metal stripes.