A predicted membrane protein, TRA-2A, directs hermaphrodite development in Caenorhabditis elegans.
The nematode C. elegans naturally develops as either an XO male or XX hermaphrodite. The sex-determining gene, tra-2, promotes hermaphrodite development in XX animals. This gene encodes a predicted membrane protein, named TRA-2A, which has been proposed to provide the primary feminising activity of the tra-2 locus. Here, we show that transgenic TRA-2A driven from a heat shock promoter can fully feminise the somatic tissues of XX tra-2 loss-of-function mutants, which would otherwise develop as male. TRA-2A is thus likely to provide a component of the tra-2 locus that is both necessary and sufficient to promote female somatic development. Transgenic TRA-2A driven by the heat shock promoter can also transform XO animals from male to self-fertile hermaphrodite. This result establishes the role of tra-2 as a developmental switch that controls somatic sexual cell fate. We show that a carboxy-terminal region of TRA-2A, predicted to be intra-cellular, can partially feminise XX tra-2 loss-of-function mutants and XO tra-2(+) males. We suggest that this intra-cellular domain of TRA-2A promotes hermaphrodite development by negatively regulating the FEM proteins.
Kuwabara
P E
PE
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Wisconsin, Madison 53706, USA.
Kimble
J
J
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004591:Electrophoresis, Polyacrylamide Gel; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008297:Male; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012733:Sex Differentiation
D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D012261:Ribonucleoproteins; C066174:tra2 protein, Drosophila