Questions, Feedback & Help
Send us an email and we'll get back to you ASAP. Or you can read our Frequently Asked Questions.
  • page settings
  • hide sidebar
  • show empty fields
  • layout
  • (too narrow)
  • open all
  • close all
Resources » Paper

Robert J Johnston Jr et al. (2005) International Worm Meeting "MicroRNAs acting in a bistable feedback loop to control a neuronal cell fate decision"

  • History

  • Referenced

  • Tree Display

  • My Favorites

  • My Library

  • Comments on Robert J Johnston Jr et al. (2005) International Worm Meeting "MicroRNAs acting in a bistable feedback loop to control a neuronal cell fate decision" (0)

  • Overview

    Status:
    Publication type:
    Meeting_abstract
    WormBase ID:
    WBPaper00025365

    Robert J Johnston Jr, Sarah Chang, & Oliver Hobert (2005). MicroRNAs acting in a bistable feedback loop to control a neuronal cell fate decision presented in International Worm Meeting. Unpublished information; cite only with author permission.

    The elucidation of the architecture of gene regulatory networks that control cell-type specific gene expression programs represents a major challenge in developmental biology. We describe here a cell fate decision between two alternative neuronal fates and the regulatory architecture of a network composed of microRNAs (miRNAs) and transcription factors that controls this cell fate decision. The two taste receptor neurons ASE left (ASEL) and ASE right(ASER) of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans share many bilaterally symmetric features, but each cell expresses a distinct set of chemoreceptors and neurotransmitters which endow the gustatory system with the capacity to sense and discriminate specific environmental inputs. We show that these left/right asymmetric fates develop from an equipotent precursor state in which both ASEL and ASER express mixed features. Mutant analysis reveals that after the initial expression of mixed features, the ASE cells must subsequently adopt either the ASEL or ASER fate, therefore defining the ASE cell fate decision as a bistable system. This bistable system is controlled by the miRNAs lsy-6 and mir-273, and their target genes, the transcription factors cog-1 and die-1, which we have found to interact with one another in a double-negative feedback regulatory loop. Simple feedback loops are found as common motifs in many gene regulatory networks, but the loop that we describe here is unusually complex and is the first of its kind to involve miRNAs. Double negative feedback loops may potentially represent a general mechanism for miRNAs to regulate their own expression. Double negative feedback loops may also represent a paradigm for how neurons select amongst alternative fates and lock into stable states.

    Affiliation:
    - Dept Biochemistry & Biophysics, Columbia Univ, New York, NY.


    Tip: Seeing your name marked red? Please help us identify you.