{
  "abstract": "Apical constriction shapes tissues in fundamental events including gastrulation and neural tube formation. Diverse actin regulators play key roles in shaping cells, but the spatial distribution of most actin regulators in apical constriction is unknown. Here, we describe a systematic approach revealing the endogenous localization of 49 actin regulators in C. elegans gastrulation -- nearly every actin-binding protein (ABP) expressed in the early embryo -- and we use this atlas to test mechanistic hypotheses. We found that many actin regulators localized basolaterally, dependent on the Arp2/3 complex; that linear actin assembly factors enriched apically; and that apically constricting cells had an extra requirement for membrane-cortical linkers present in all cells. These findings answer some key questions about how ABPs function in apical constriction, and they establish a rich resource for investigating actin organization throughout early C. elegans development and a systematic in vivo protein localization reference for the actin cytoskeleton community.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Biology Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA",
    "Curriculum in Cell Biology and Physiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA",
    "Present address: School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China",
    "Present address: Biology Department, University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, La Crosse, WI, USA",
    "Advanced Bioimaging Center, Molecular and Cell Biology Department, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA",
    "Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford CA, USA",
    "Present address: Department of Zoology, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada",
    "Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA",
    "Department of Cell Biology, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA",
    "Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA",
    "Lead contact"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2
      ],
      "name": "Pu Zhang",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4174-8202"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Bailey N. de Jesus",
      "orcid": "0009-0005-3707-5828"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Taylor N. Medwig-Kinney",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7989-3291"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "David Q. Matus",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1570-5025"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Callista Yee",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2928-492X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Theresa Gibney",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5461-724X"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7,
        8
      ],
      "name": "Ariel Pani",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9338-9750"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        9,
        10
      ],
      "name": "Bob Goldstein",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6961-675X"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b77334bzqcxy.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.23.761371",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761371v1.full",
  "id": "9b77334bzqcxy",
  "issns": [
    "2692-8205"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761371v1",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "cell biology"
    ],
    [
      "heading",
      "Article"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "1307|Cellular Mechanics and Interactions"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7223904365",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761371v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13733786",
  "pmid": "42990213",
  "published": "2026-10-23",
  "publisher": "Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Preprints",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b77334bzqcxy.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:29:47Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.23.761371",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.23.761371v1"
    },
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-08T12:23:29Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13733786",
      "source": "pmc",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.10.23.761371"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:cell biology",
      "subfield": "cell-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Understanding How Actomyosin Dynamics Drive Apical Constriction by Systematically Tagging and Mapping Actin-Binding Proteins",
  "title_text": "Understanding How Actomyosin Dynamics Drive Apical Constriction by Systematically Tagging and Mapping Actin-Binding Proteins",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-08T12:23:29Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/9b77334bzqcxy",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}