The TAO kinase KIN-18 regulates contractility and establishment of polarity in the C. elegans embryo

Abstract: Cell polarity is crucial for many aspects of cell and developmental biology. Cytoskeleton remodeling plays an essential role in the establishment of cell polarity. In the Caenorhabditis elegans one-cell embryo, while the actomyosin cytoskeleton is required for asymmetric localization of the PAR proteins, anterior PAR proteins exert a feedback regulation on contractility. Here we identify the TAO kinase KIN-18 as a regulator of cortical contractility in the early embryo. KIN-18 negatively regulates cortical contractions in a RHO-1 dependent manner and regulates RHO-1 cortical localization. KIN-18 contributes to polarity establishment by regulating the position of the boundary between anterior and posterior PAR proteins. Although KIN-18 is involved in polarity establishment, depletion of KIN-18 restores contractions in a par-3 mutant indicating that kin-18 is epistatic to par-3. We suggest a model in which KIN-18 provides a link between the cytoskeleton remodeling and polarity machineries, uncovering a role for TAO kinases in the regulation of cell polarity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]