The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-10 is broadly expressed while required specifically for the determination of vulval cell fates.
As a first step in a molecular dissection of the pathway controlling the determination of vulval cell fates in Caenorhabditis elegans, we have analyzed the gene lin-10. We show that loss-of-function mutations in this gene specifically prevent the induction of vulval cell lineages and result instead in the expression of hypodermal cell lineages. We isolated a transposon-insertion allele of lin-10 and used it to clone a genomic region that contains the lin-10 locus. The location of lin-10 within this region was determined by identifying a transcript affected by three independent lin-10 mutations and by delimiting the minimal segment of DNA sufficient to rescue the lin-10 mutant phenotype in germ line transformation experiments. The predicted lin-10 protein sequence is not similar to sequences in current data bases, suggesting that lin-10 defines a novel class of gene involved in the specification of cell fates. Although our genetic studies indicate that lin-10 is required specifically for the determination of vulval cell fates, lin-10 transcripts are present in cells other than vulval precursor cells. This result suggests that lin-10 may have a general but redundant role in development, functioning in diverse cell lineages to control cell fates. Alternatively, lin-10 may function specifically in vulval development, in which case lin-10 activity could be regulated at a post-transcriptional level or could have biological consequences only in conjunction with the products of other genes.
Kim
S K
SK
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Horvitz
H R
HR
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D005796:Genes; D005838:Genotype; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011506:Proteins; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D013696:Temperature; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D014844:Vulva / Q000166:cytology
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004251:DNA Transposable Elements; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011506:Proteins; C064105:lin-10 protein, C elegans