Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38573316›Full record

ArticleeLife2024

ROCK and the actomyosin network control biomineral growth and morphology during sea urchin skeletogenesis.

Eman Hijaze, Tsvia Gildor, Ronald Seidel, Majed Layous, Mark Winter, Luca Bertinetti, Yael Politi, Smadar Ben-Tabou de-Leon

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in eLife, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
9citing papers in PubMed
2.4field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

9 citing papers in PubMed, 4 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Possible role of microtubules in vesicular transport of matrix protein during sea urchin larval biomineralization.Developmental dynamics : an official publication of the American Association of Anatomists · 2026
    Article
  3. Skeletogenic Expression of Integrin Alpha, Talin and Npnt Genes and Npnt Role in Sea Urchin Skeletogenesis.Journal of experimental zoology. Part B, Molecular and developmental evolution · 2026
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. A mechanosensitive circuit of FAK, ROCK, and ERK controls biomineral growth and morphology in the sea urchin embryo.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.

Eman HijazeDepartment of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Tsvia GildorDepartment of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Ronald SeidelB CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Majed LayousDepartment of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.
Mark WinterDepartment of Electrical Engineering, Computer Science and Mathematics, Technische Universiteit Delft, Delft, Netherlands.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1180-1957
Luca BertinettiB CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Yael PolitiB CUBE Center for Molecular Bioengineering, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
Smadar Ben-Tabou de-LeonDepartment of Marine Biology, Leon H. Charney School of Marine Sciences, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9497-4938
University of Haifa · ILTechnische Universität Dresden · DEDelft University of Technology · NL

Funding

ANATOMIX 20200811Israel Science Foundation 211/20
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Biomineralization had apparently evolved independently in different phyla, using distinct minerals, organic scaffolds, and gene regulatory networks (GRNs). However, diverse eukaryotes from unicellular organisms, through echinoderms to vertebrates, use the actomyosin network during biomineralization. Specifically, the actomyosin remodeling protein, Rho-associated coiled-coil kinase (ROCK) regulates cell differentiation and gene expression in vertebrates' biomineralizing cells, yet, little is known on ROCK's role in invertebrates' biomineralization. Here, we reveal that ROCK controls the formation, growth, and morphology of the calcite spicules in the sea urchin larva. ROCK expression is elevated in the sea urchin skeletogenic cells downstream of the Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF) signaling. ROCK inhibition leads to skeletal loss and disrupts skeletogenic gene expression. ROCK inhibition after spicule formation reduces the spicule elongation rate and induces ectopic spicule branching. Similar skeletogenic phenotypes are observed when ROCK is inhibited in a skeletogenic cell culture, indicating that these phenotypes are due to ROCK activity specifically in the skeletogenic cells. Reduced skeletal growth and enhanced branching are also observed under direct perturbations of the actomyosin network. We propose that ROCK and the actomyosin machinery were employed independently, downstream of distinct GRNs, to regulate biomineral growth and morphology in Eukaryotes.

Indexed as

ActomyosinVascular Endothelial Growth Factor AActin CytoskeletonAnimalsEchinodermataEukaryotaSea UrchinsActomyosinVascular Endothelial Growth Factor Aactomyosinbiomineralizationdevelopmental biologyevolutionary biologyROCKsea urchinskeletogenesistubulogenesis

Identifiers

PMID38573316
PMCPMC10994658
OpenAlexW4386525942

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.