The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-44 controls the polarity of asymmetric cell divisions.
The generation and orientation of cellular and organismic polarity are fundamental aspects of development. Mutations in the gene lin-44 of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans reverse both the relative positions of specific sister cells and the apparent polarities of these cells. Thus, lin-44 mutants appear to generate polar cells but to misorient these cells along the body axis of the animal. We postulate that lin-44 acts to specify the orientation of polar cells.
Department of Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
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Herman
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Horvitz
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D016764:Cell Polarity / Q000235:genetics*; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D009154:Mutation