The unc-86 gene product couples cell lineage and cell identity in C. elegans

The C. elegans gene unc-86 is required in several distinct neuroblast lineages for daughter cells to become different from their mothers, and is also required for the specification of particular neural identities. Consistent with the fact that unc-86 encodes a POU domain protein, we find that the unc-86 protein is localized to the nucleus. In the affected lineages, unc-86 protein appears within a few minutes after cell division in the nuclei of those daughter cells that are transformed by unc-86 mutations. Thus, expression of unc-86 protein is dependent on cell lineage. unc-86 protein is not asymmetrically segregated at further divisions. unc-86 protein also appears shortly after cell division in the nuclei of particular identified differentiating neurons; at least some of these neurons are nonfunctional in unc-86 mutants.

[1]  S. Brenner.  The genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1974, Genetics.

[2]  M. Chalfie,et al.  Genetic control of differentiation of the Caenorhabditis elegans touch receptor neurons. , 1989, Science.

[3]  H. Horvitz,et al.  The C. elegans cell lineage and differentiation gene unc-86 encodes a protein with a homeodomain and extended similarity to transcription factors , 1988, Cell.

[4]  M. Akam,et al.  The molecular basis for metameric pattern in the Drosophila embryo. , 1987, Development.

[5]  H. Horvitz,et al.  Novel cysteine-rich motif and homeodomain in the product of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell lineage gene lin-II , 1990, Nature.

[6]  M. Rosenfeld,et al.  The POU-specific domain of Pit-1 is essential for sequence-specific, high affinity DNA binding and DNA-dependent Pit-1—Pit-1 interactions , 1990, Cell.

[7]  S. Brenner,et al.  The structure of the nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1986, Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences.

[8]  J. Sulston,et al.  The embryonic cell lineage of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1983, Developmental biology.

[9]  C. Bate,et al.  Embryogenesis of an insect nervous system II: a second class of neuron precursor cells and the origin of the intersegmental connectives. , 1981, Journal of embryology and experimental morphology.

[10]  Martin Chalfie,et al.  Mutations that lead to reiterations in the cell lineages of C. elegans , 1981, Cell.

[11]  P. Sharp,et al.  The Oct-2 protein binds cooperatively to adjacent octamer sites. , 1989, Genes & development.

[12]  Doe Cq,et al.  The origins of cell diversity in the insect central nervous system. , 1990 .

[13]  M. Rosenfeld,et al.  A pituitary POU domain protein, Pit-1, activates both growth hormone and prolactin promoters transcriptionally. , 1989, Genes & development.

[14]  Gary Ruvkun,et al.  The Caenorhabditis elegans heterochronic gene lin-14 encodes a nuclear protein that forms a temporal developmental switch , 1989, Nature.

[15]  J. Sulston,et al.  Post-embryonic cell lineages of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1977, Developmental biology.

[16]  C. Doe,et al.  The origins of cell diversity in the insect central nervous system. , 1990, Seminars in cell biology.

[17]  H. Horvitz,et al.  Mutations that affect neural cell lineages and cell fates during the development of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1983, Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology.

[18]  G. Ruvkun,et al.  The POU domain: a large conserved region in the mammalian pit-1, oct-1, oct-2, and Caenorhabditis elegans unc-86 gene products. , 1988, Genes & development.

[19]  Hilla Peretz,et al.  Ju n 20 03 Schrödinger ’ s Cat : The rules of engagement , 2003 .

[20]  W. Herr,et al.  The Oct-1 homoeodomain directs formation of a multiprotein-DNA complex with the HSV transactivator VP16 , 1989, Nature.

[21]  J. Priess,et al.  Caenorhabditis elegans morphogenesis: the role of the cytoskeleton in elongation of the embryo. , 1986, Developmental biology.

[22]  E. D. De Robertis,et al.  The nuclear migration signal of Xenopus laevis nucleoplasmin. , 1987, The EMBO journal.

[23]  H. Horvitz,et al.  EGG-LAYING DEFECTIVE MUTANTS OF THE NEMATODE , 1983 .

[24]  C. R. Goding,et al.  Herpes simplex virus regulatory elements and the immunoglobulin octamer domain bind a common factor and are both targets for virion transactivation , 1988, Cell.

[25]  H. Horvitz,et al.  A genetic pathway for the development of the Caenorhabditis elegans HSN motor neurons , 1988, Nature.

[26]  M. Chalfie,et al.  The mec-3 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans requires its own product for maintained expression and is expressed in three neuronal cell types. , 1989, Genes & development.

[27]  F. Studier,et al.  Use of T7 RNA polymerase to direct expression of cloned genes. , 1990, Methods in enzymology.

[28]  M. Chalfie,et al.  mec-3, a homeobox-containing gene that specifies differentiation of the touch receptor neurons in C. elegans , 1988, Cell.

[29]  M. Frame,et al.  A complex formed between cell components and an HSV structural polypeptide binds to a viral immediate early gene regulatory DNA sequence , 1988, Cell.

[30]  T. Deerinck,et al.  Expression of GHF-1 protein in mouse pituitaries correlates both temporally and spatially with the onset of growth hormone gene activity , 1990, Cell.

[31]  D. Weisblat,et al.  Developmental interdeterminacy in embryos of the leech Helobdella triserialis. , 1984, Developmental biology.

[32]  M. Finney.  The genetics and molecular biology of unc.-86, a C. elegans cell lineage gene , 1987 .

[33]  H. Horvitz,et al.  Genetic control of programmed cell death in the nematode C. elegans , 1986, Cell.

[34]  J E Sulston,et al.  Abnormal cell lineages in mutants of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. , 1981, Developmental biology.