A C. elegans patched gene, ptc-1, functions in germ-line cytokinesis
AUTOR(ES)
Kuwabara, Patricia E.
FONTE
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press
RESUMO
Patched (Ptc), initially identified in Drosophila, defines a class of multipass membrane proteins that control cell fate and cell proliferation. Biochemical studies in vertebrates indicate that the membrane proteins Ptc and Smoothened (Smo) form a receptor complex that binds Hedgehog (Hh) morphogens. Smo transduces the Hh signal to downstream effectors. The Caenorhabditis elegans genome encodes two Ptc homologs and one related pseudogene but does not encode obvious Hh or Smo homologs. We have analyzed ptc-1 by RNAi and mutational deletion and find that it is an essential gene, although the absence of ptc-1 has no detectable effect on body patterning or proliferation. Therefore, the C. elegans ptc-1 gene is functional despite the lack of Hh and Smo homologs. We find that the activity and expression of ptc-1 is essentially confined to the germ line and its progenitors. ptc-1 null mutants are sterile with multinucleate germ cells arising from a probable cytokinesis defect. We have also identified a surprisingly large family of PTC-related proteins containing sterol-sensing domains, including homologs of Drosophila dispatched, in C. elegans and other phyla. These results suggest that the PTC superfamily has multiple functions in animal development.
ACESSO AO ARTIGO
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=316821Documentos Relacionados
- Transcriptional repression by the Caenorhabditis elegans germ-line protein PIE-1
- Germ-line immortality
- Elucidation of IgH intronic enhancer functions via germ-line deletion
- Multiple potential germ-line helicases are components of the germ-line-specific P granules of Caenorhabditis elegans
- Mammalian germ-line transgenesis by transposition