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Comments on Fay DS et al. (1998) West Coast Worm Meeting "CLONING AND ANALYSIS OF A C. ELEGANS HUNCHBACK HOMOLOGUE, HBL-1" (0)
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Fay DS, Stanely H, & Wood WB (1998). CLONING AND ANALYSIS OF A C. ELEGANS HUNCHBACK HOMOLOGUE, HBL-1 presented in West Coast Worm Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.
We have cloned a C. elegans homologue of the Drosophila gap gene hunchback (hb) and designated it hbl-1 (hunchback-like). hbl-1 encodes a predicted protein of 982 amino acids and contains two putative zinc-finger domains. It is most similar to Drosophila Hb in the N-terminal Zn-finger domain and likewise shows a high degree of similarity to Hb homologues from other species in this region. RNA blot analysis indicates that hbl-1 is expressed at highest levels during mid to late embryogenesis, but unlike Drosophila hb, hbl-1 does not appear to be expressed maternally. Double stranded RNA interference experiments indicate that hbl-1 is required for embryogenesis. The majority of affected animals arrest either as partially elongated embryos or as misshapen L1 larvae. This phenotype may be due in part to the improper specification and patterning of hypodermal cells. Animals that survive to reach adulthood are variably Dpy, Unc, and Egl and show severe defects in vulval morphology. Using GFP reporters we have determined that hbl-1 is expressed during embryogenesis in hypodermal, pharyngeal, and neuronal lineages. Continued expression of hbl-1 in neurons is also observed during larval stages. Interestingly, this pattern of expression is similar to the expression pattern observed for the leech hunchback homologue Lzf-2, suggesting that these proteins may carry out a similar biological function in cellular embryos of diverse species.
Affiliation:
- Dept. of MCD Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0347