Regulation of organogenesis by the Caenorhabditis elegans FoxA protein PHA-4

Science. 2002 Feb 1;295(5556):821-5. doi: 10.1126/science.1065175.

Abstract

The pha-4 locus encodes a forkhead box A (FoxA/HNF3) transcription factor homolog that specifies organ identity for Caenorhabditis elegans pharyngeal cells. We used microarrays to identify pharyngeal genes and analyzed those genes to determine which were direct PHA-4 targets. Our data suggest that PHA-4 directly activates most or all pharyngeal genes. Furthermore, the relative affinity of PHA-4 for different TRTTKRY (R = A/G, K = T/G, Y = T/C) elements modulates the onset of gene expression, providing a mechanism to activate pharyngeal genes at different developmental stages. We suggest that direct transcriptional regulation of entire gene networks may be a common feature of organ identity genes.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Binding Sites
  • Biological Evolution
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / embryology*
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans / metabolism
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / genetics
  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / metabolism*
  • Consensus Sequence
  • Embryo, Nonmammalian / metabolism
  • Embryonic Development
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental*
  • Genes, Helminth*
  • Genes, Reporter
  • Introns
  • Models, Genetic
  • Mutation
  • Myosins / genetics
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
  • Pharynx / cytology
  • Pharynx / embryology
  • Pharynx / metabolism
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Trans-Activators / genetics
  • Trans-Activators / metabolism*

Substances

  • Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
  • Pha-4 protein, C elegans
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Trans-Activators
  • Myosins