title: The C. elegans gene lin-44, which controls the polarity of certain asymmetric cell divisions, encodes a Wnt protein and acts cell nonautonomously.
abstract: Mutations in the C. elegans gene lin-44 lead to reversals in the polarity of certain asymmetric cell divisions. We have discovered that lin-44 is a member of the Wnt family of genes, which encode secretory glycoproteins implicated in intercellular signaling. Both in situ hybridization experiments using lin-44 transcripts and experiments using reporter constructs designed to mimic patterns of lin-44 expression indicate that lin-44 is expressed in hypodermal cells at the tip of the tail and posterior to the cells with polarities affected by lin-44 mutations. Our mosaic analysis indicates that lin-44 acts cell nonautonomously. We propose that LIN-44 protein is secreted by tail hypodermal cells and affects the polarity of asymmetric cell divisions that occur more anteriorly in the tail.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Herman
authors.forename: L L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Vassilieva
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
authors.forename: J E
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: R K
authors.initials: RK
authors.lastname: Herman
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002455:Cell Division; D019070:Cell Lineage; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000235:genetics*; D018244:Chromosomes, Artificial, Yeast; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D004331:Drosophila melanogaster / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009030:Mosaicism; D005810:Multigene Family; D010641:Phenotype; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013623:Tail; D051155:Wnt1 Protein
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D006023:Glycoproteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C095991:LIN-44 protein, C elegans; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D051155:Wnt1 Protein; C074622:wg protein, Drosophila