CELE_C56G7.1, C56G7.1

mlc-4 encodes, along with mlc-1 and mlc-2, one of three C. elegans regulatory myosin light chains; mlc-4 appears to encode the sole C. elegans regulatory light chain for nonmuscle myosin and during development, mlc-4 activity is required maternally for cytokinesis in meiosis and mitosis and for establishment of some aspects of anterior-posterior polarity in the early embryo; further, RNA interference studies show that two proteins, LET-502 (Rho-binding kinase) and MEL-11 (myosin phosphatase) do not properly localize at the cleavage furrow in mutant mlc-4 embryos during embryonic cytokinesis; later, zygotic mlc-4 activity is required for proper embryonic elongation and larval development; an MLC-4::GFP fusion protein that rescues the zygotic defects is expressed in the lateral hypodermal (seam) cells beginning at the bean stage of embryogenesis and continuing through larval stages; expression is also observed postembryonically in the spermathecal and uterine walls as well as weakly in the gonadal sheath and intestinal muscle.

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