title: Role of a raf proto-oncogene during Caenorhabditis elegans vulval development.
abstract: During Caenorhabditis elegans vulval induction, multipotent precursors respond to an inductive signal by generating vulval cells as opposed to non-specialized epidermal cells. Both classical and 'reverse' genetic approaches have revealed that a cascade of nematode homologues of mammalian proto-oncogenes is necessary for induction of the vulva. The inductive signal is a growth factor encoded by the lin-3 gene and its candidate receptor is a tyrosine kinase encoded by the let-23 gene. let-23 acts via a Ras protein encoded by the let-60 gene. A nematode homologue of mammalian raf family protein serine/threonine kinases has been cloned and found to be encoded by the lin-45 gene. Dominant negative lin-45 raf mutants prevent vulval induction. A recessive lin-45 raf mutation prevents the excessive vulval differentiation caused by activated ras, indicating that raf might act downstream of ras during vulval induction.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125.
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Sternberg
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Golden
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Han
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development*; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005091:Exons; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005809:Genes, Regulator; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D010641:Phenotype; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D015398:Signal Transduction; D014844:Vulva / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development*
chemical_list: D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D011505:Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf