Mishal Razi, Sana Shehzad, Maria Fitian and Angelle Phillip

Abstract:

Cell migration is largely impacted by the cytoskeleton. I set out to determine the role of the focal adhesion complex in during cell migration in vivo. Focal adhesions, integrin-containing protein structures, link the extracellular matrix to cytoskeletal components. To investigate the role of focal adhesions I use the sex myoblasts (SM) cells in C. elegans as a model. Previous studies suggest that SM cells have mesenchymal migration, which relies on focal adhesions. To investigate if SM cells utilize focal adhesions, I am depleting focal adhesion genes, determining phenotypic outcomes and scoring brood size. Preliminary data show that depletion of spc-1, unc-70, sma-1, and tns-1 don’t impact brood size. These data suggest that the SM cell doesn’t utilize focal adhesions.