Journal article
The Caenorhabditis elegans gene ham-2 links Hox patterning to migration of the HSN motor neuron
Genes & development, Vol.13(4), pp.472-483
02/15/1999
DOI: 10.1101/gad.13.4.472
PMCID: PMC316472
PMID: 10049362
Abstract
The
Caenorhabditis elegans
HSN motor neurons permit genetic analysis of neuronal development at single-cell resolution. The
egl-5
Hox gene, which patterns the posterior of the embryo, is required for both early (embryonic) and late (larval) development of the HSN. Here we show that
ham-2
encodes a zinc finger protein that acts downstream of
egl-5
to direct HSN cell migration, an early differentiation event. We also demonstrate that the EGL-43 zinc finger protein, also required for HSN migration, is expressed in the HSN specifically during its migration. In an
egl-5
mutant background, the HSN still expresses EGL-43, but expression is no longer down-regulated at the end of the cell’s migration. Finally, we find a new role in early HSN differentiation for UNC-86, a POU homeodomain transcription factor shown previously to act downstream of
egl-5
in the regulation of late HSN differentiation. In an
unc-86; ham-2
double mutant the HSNs are defective in EGL-43 down-regulation, an
egl-5
-like phenotype that is absent in either single mutant. Thus, in the HSN, a Hox gene,
egl-5
, regulates cell fate by activating the transcription of genes encoding the transcription factors HAM-2 and UNC-86 that in turn individually control some differentiation events and combinatorially affect others.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- The Caenorhabditis elegans gene ham-2 links Hox patterning to migration of the HSN motor neuron
- Creators
- Paul D Baum - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3204 USACatherine Guenther - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3204 USAC. Andrew Frank - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3204 USABinh V Pham - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3204 USAGian Garriga - Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-3204 USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Genes & development, Vol.13(4), pp.472-483
- Publisher
- Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
- DOI
- 10.1101/gad.13.4.472
- PMID
- 10049362
- PMCID
- PMC316472
- ISSN
- 0890-9369
- eISSN
- 1549-5477
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/15/1999
- Academic Unit
- Anatomy and Cell Biology; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984025432702771
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