An NDPase links ADAM protease glycosylation with organ morphogenesis in C. elegans
Nishiwaki K, Kubota Y, Chigira Y, Roy S K, Suzuki M, Schvarzstein M, Jigami Y, Hisamoto N and Matsumoto K
Nat Cell Biol 6(1):31-7 (2004)

SUMMARY
In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, the gonad acquires two U-shaped arms through the directed migration of its distal tip cells (DTCs), which are located at the tip of the growing gonad arms. A member of the ADAM (a disintegrin and metalloprotease) family, MIG-17, regulates directional migration of DTCs: MIG-17 is synthesized and secreted from the muscle cells of the body wall, and diffuses to the gonad where it is required for DTC migration. The mig-23 mutation causes defective migration of DTCs and interacts genetically with mig-17. Here, we report that mig-23 encodes a membrane-bound nucleoside diphosphatase (NDPase) required for glycosylation and proper localization of MIG-17. Our findings indicate that an NDPase affects organ morphogenesis through glycosylation of the MIG-17 ADAM protease.

LINK
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Citation&list_uids=14688791