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Comments on Helen M Chamberlin et al. (1999) International C. elegans Meeting "Developmental patterning in the C. elegans hindgut" (0)
Overview
Helen M Chamberlin, & James H Thomas (1999). Developmental patterning in the C. elegans hindgut presented in International C. elegans Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.
In C. elegans , the posterior hindgut is comprised of four cells (F, U, B and Y) that each adopt a distinct cell fate in both males and hermaphrodites. The genes mab-9 , egl-38 and lin-48 play an important role in specifying the fates of these cells. mab-9 functions to make the two dorsal cells (F and B) different from their ventral neighbors (U and Y; Chisholm and Hodgkin, 1989, G & D 3: 1413). egl-38 encodes a Pax transcription factor that functions to make the two anterior cells (F and U) different from their posterior neighbors (B and Y; Chamberlin et al., 1997, Dev. 124: 3919-3928). lin-48 encodes an Ovo-like zinc finger transcription factor required for normal development of F and U, and functions to make the left/right lineal homologues, U and B, different from each other. We are interested in how these genes function together to specify cell fate. We have found that lin-48::gfp transgenes are expressed in the two anterior cells, F and U, as well as in a small number of other cells. In egl-38 mutants the hindgut expression is greatly reduced, whereas expression in other cells is unaffected. In contrast, lin-48::gfp expression is not affected in lin-48 mutants. This suggests that egl-38 is genetically upstream of lin-48 , and required for its expression in the hindgut. egl-38 is required for the normal development of both the hindgut and the hermaphrodite egg-laying system. In contrast, genetic and expression data for lin-48 indicate it does not function in the egg-laying system. Our results are consistent with a model that lin-48 is a tissue-specific target for egl-38 . We plan to test whether the lin-48 promoter is a direct target for EGL-38, as well as to identify other factors that contribute to the tissue-specific functions of egl-38 .