Patterning of the Caenorhabditis elegans head region by the Pax-6 family member vab-3.
The Pax-6 genes are important for eye development in both vertebrates and Drosophila. Mutations in the human PAX6 gene are found in patients with a variety of eye disorders, including aniridia and Peters' anomaly, and mutations in the Drosophila Pax-6 homologue cause the eyeless phenotype. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, vab-3 mutants display many defects in head-region development, including aberrant morphogenesis, transformation of hypodermal (epidermal-like) cell fates to those of posterior homologues, and abnormal specification of neurons. Here we show that vab-3 is a member of the paired-domain-containing Pax-6 gene family and is expressed in head-region cells. This C. elegans Pax-6 locus can also encode proteins lacking the paired domain. Our results suggest that a primordial role of the Pax-6 gene family could have been to pattern part of the head region, and that Pax-6 genes subsequently evolved to be more specifically involved in eye development.
Chisholm
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
Horvitz
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HR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005136:Eye Proteins; D006257:Head / Q000196:embryology; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D013623:Tail / Q000196:embryology; D014157:Transcription Factors
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018509:DNA, Helminth; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005136:Eye Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; C000605730:PAX6 protein, human; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C095405:vab-3 protein, C elegans