title: Novel cysteine-rich motif and homeodomain in the product of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell lineage gene lin-11.
abstract: The gene lin-11 is required for the asymmetric division of a vulval precursor cell type in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Putative lin-11 complementary DNAs were sequenced and found to encode a protein that contains both a homeodomain and two tandem copies of a novel cysteine-rich motif: C-X2-C-X17-19-H-X2-C-X2-C-X2-C-X7-11-(C)-X8-C. Two tandem copies of this motif are also present amino-terminal to the homeodomains in the proteins encoded by the genes mec-3, which is required for C. elegans touch neuron differentiation, and isl-1, which encodes a rat insulin I gene enhancer-binding protein. The arrangement of cysteine residues in this motif, referred to as LIM (for lin-11 isl-1 mec-3), suggests that this region is a metal-binding domain. The presence in these three proteins of both a potential metal-binding domain and a homeodomain distinguishes them from previously characterized proteins.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Freyd
authors.forename: S K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D002455:Cell Division; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003545:Cysteine; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005260:Female; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009693:Nucleic Acid Hybridization; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D014844:Vulva / Q000166:cytology
chemical_list: D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D004247:DNA; D003545:Cysteine