title: Caenorhabditis elegans ras gene let-60 acts as a switch in the pathway of vulval induction.
abstract: The let-60 gene, an essential ras gene of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, acts as a switch in the inductive signalling pathway that initiates vulva formation. Recessive let-60 mutations that cause a vulvaless phenotype prevent let-60 function in response to the inductive signal. These mutations are clustered and define regions necessary either for the activation or for the action of the let-60 ras protein. Dominant let-60 mutations that cause a multivulva phenotype alter codon 13 and activate let-60 in vivo, rendering it independent of the inductive signal. The let-60 gene acts within an extensively defined genetic pathway, and other genes within this pathway seem likely to encode molecules that regulate let-60 function as well as molecules that are targets of let-60 action.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Beitel
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003062:Codon; D004627:Embryonic Induction; D005260:Female; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras) / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014844:Vulva / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D003062:Codon; D019204:GTP-Binding Proteins; D016283:Proto-Oncogene Proteins p21(ras)