Abstract
Mutations in the C. elegans gene lin-44 lead to reversals in the polarity of certain asymmetric cell divisions. We have discovered that lin-44 is a member of the Wnt family of genes, which encode secretory glycoproteins implicated in intercellular signaling. Both in situ hybridization experiments using lin-44 transcripts and experiments using reporter constructs designed to mimic patterns of lin-44 expression indicate that lin-44 is expressed in hypodermal cells at the tip of the tail and posterior to the cells with polarities affected by lin-44 mutations. Our mosaic analysis indicates that lin-44 acts cell nonautonomously. We propose that LIN-44 protein is secreted by tail hypodermal cells and affects the polarity of asymmetric cell divisions that occur more anteriorly in the tail.
Publication types
-
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
-
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.
MeSH terms
-
Amino Acid Sequence
-
Animals
-
Base Sequence
-
Caenorhabditis elegans / cytology
-
Caenorhabditis elegans / genetics*
-
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins*
-
Cell Division
-
Cell Lineage
-
Cell Polarity / genetics*
-
Chromosomes, Artificial, Yeast
-
Consensus Sequence
-
DNA, Complementary / genetics
-
Disorders of Sex Development
-
Drosophila Proteins*
-
Drosophila melanogaster / genetics
-
Gene Expression Regulation
-
Genes, Reporter
-
Glycoproteins / chemistry
-
Glycoproteins / classification
-
Glycoproteins / genetics
-
Glycoproteins / physiology*
-
Helminth Proteins / physiology*
-
In Situ Hybridization
-
Mice
-
Molecular Sequence Data
-
Mosaicism
-
Multigene Family
-
Phenotype
-
Proto-Oncogene Proteins / chemistry
-
Proto-Oncogene Proteins / genetics
-
Recombinant Fusion Proteins / biosynthesis
-
Recombinant Fusion Proteins / genetics
-
Sequence Alignment
-
Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
-
Signal Transduction*
-
Tail
-
Wnt1 Protein
Substances
-
Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
-
DNA, Complementary
-
Drosophila Proteins
-
Glycoproteins
-
Helminth Proteins
-
LIN-44 protein, C elegans
-
Proto-Oncogene Proteins
-
Recombinant Fusion Proteins
-
Wnt1 Protein
-
wg protein, Drosophila