Heterochronic genes control the stage-specific initiation and expression of the dauer larva developmental program in Caenorhabditis elegans.
We report that a stage-specific developmental program, dauer larva formation, is temporally regulated by four heterochronic genes, lin-4, lin-14, lin-28, and lin-29. The effects of mutations in these four genes on dauer larva formation have revealed that they regulate two different processes of dauer larva formation: (1) a decision specifying the larval stage at which dauer larva development initiates, and (2) the specialized differentiation of hypodermal cells during dauer larva morphogenesis. Epistasis analysis has suggested a model in which lin-4 negatively regulates lin-14, and the resulting temporal decrease in lin-14 activity specifies the stage of dauer larva initiation. Our results further suggest that dauer larva morphogenesis by hypodermal cells requires that lin-28 acts to inhibit lin-29 during early larval stages.
Liu
Z C
ZC
Department of Cellular and Developmental Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138.
Ambros
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D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004843:Epistasis, Genetic; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D005838:Genotype; D007814:Larva / Q000254:growth & development; D009024:Morphogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype