During Caenorhabditis elegans development, multiple cells migrate long distances or extend processes to reach their final position and/or attain proper shape. The Wnt signalling pathway stands out as one of the major coordinators of cell migration or cell outgrowth along the anterior-posterior body axis. The outcome of Wnt signalling is fine-tuned by various mechanisms including endocytosis. In this study, we show that SEL-5, the C. elegans orthologue of mammalian AP2-associated kinase AAK1, acts together with the retromer complex as a positive regulator of EGL-20/Wnt signalling during the migration of QL neuroblast daughter cells. At the same time, SEL-5 in cooperation with the retromer complex is also required during excretory canal cell outgrowth. Importantly, SEL-5 kinase activity is not required for its role in neuronal migration or excretory cell outgrowth, and neither of these processes is dependent on DPY-23/AP2M1 phosphorylation. We further establish that the Wnt proteins CWN-1 and CWN-2, together with the Frizzled receptor CFZ-2, positively regulate excretory cell outgrowth, while LIN-44/Wnt and LIN-17/Frizzled together generate a stop signal inhibiting its extension.

• Keywords
• C. elegans, DPY-23/AP2M1, SEL-5/AAK1, Wnt signalling, cell biology, developmental biology, excretory cell, retromer,
• MeSH
• Caenorhabditis elegans * genetics   metabolism   MeSH
• Frizzled Receptors metabolism   genetics   MeSH
• Cell Movement * MeSH
• Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins * metabolism   genetics   MeSH
• Wnt Proteins metabolism   genetics   MeSH
• Wnt Signaling Pathway * MeSH
• Animals MeSH
• Check Tag
• Animals MeSH
• Publication type
• Journal Article MeSH
• Names of Substances
• CWN-1 protein, C elegans MeSH Browser
• CWN-2 protein, C elegans MeSH Browser
• Egl-20 protein, C elegans MeSH Browser
• Frizzled Receptors MeSH
• Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins * MeSH
• Wnt Proteins MeSH