The Caenorhabditis elegans heterochronic gene lin-14 encodes a nuclear protein that forms a temporal developmental switch.
During wild-type development, a protein product of the Caenorhabditis elegans heterochronic gene lin-14 is localized to nuclei of specific somatic cells in embryos and early larvae, but is absent in late larvae and adult soma. Gain-of-function lin-14 mutations cause the level of lin-14 protein to remain high throughout development, resulting in developmental reiterations of early cell lineages. The normal down-regulation of the lin-14 nuclear protein level encodes a temporal switch between early and late cell fates.
Ruvkun
G
G
Department of Molecular Biology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston 02114.
Giusto
J
J
D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D013997:Time Factors
D009687:Nuclear Proteins