Extracellular proteins OSM-7 and OSM-8 are required for stress response gene regulation at all post-embryonic stages

Extracellular matrices (ECMs) act as barriers to environmental stress on the outer surface of animals. Within cells, well-studied molecular pathways sense stress and regulate cytoprotective gene expression (Choe et al. 2009, Blackwell et al. 2015, Urso and Lamitina 2021, Pujol and Ewbank 2022). Despite being in direct contact with the environment, little is known about the role of barrier ECMs in sensing environmental conditions and regulating stress response genes in underlying cells.