A tensile trilayered cytoskeletal endotube drives capillary-like lumenogenesis

Unicellular tubes are components of internal organs and capillaries. It is unclear how they meet the architectural challenge to extend a centered intracellular lumen of uniform diameter. In an RNAi-based Caenorhabditis elegans screen, we identified three intermediate filaments (IFs)—IFA-4, IFB-1, and IFC-2—as interactors of the lumenal membrane-actin linker ERM-1 in excretory-canal tubulogenesis. We find that IFs, generally thought to affect morphogenesis indirectly by maintaining tissue integrity, directly promote lumenogenesis in this capillary-like single-cell tube. We show that ERM-1, ACT-5/actin, and TBB-2/tubulin recruit membrane-forming endosomal and flux-promoting canalicular vesicles to the lumen, whereas IFs, themselves recruited to the lumen by ERM-1 and TBB-2, restrain lateral vesicle access. IFs thereby prevent cystogenesis, equilibrate the lumen diameter, and promote lumen forward extension. Genetic and imaging analyses suggest that IFB-1/IFA-4 and IFB-1/IFC-2 polymers form a perilumenal triple IF lattice, sandwiched between actin and helical tubulin. Our findings characterize a novel mechanism of capillary-like lumenogenesis, where a tensile trilayered cytoskeletal endotube transforms concentric into directional growth.