The maternal genes apx-1 and glp-1 and establishment of dorsal-ventral polarity in the early C. elegans embryo.
The sister blastomeres ABp and ABa are equipotent at the beginning of the 4-cell stage in C. elegans embryos, but soon become committed to different fates. We show that the glp-1 gene, a homolog of the Notch gene of Drosophila, functions in two distinct cell-cell interactions that specify the ABp and ABa fates. These interactions both require maternal expression of glp-1. We show that a second maternal gene, apx-1, functions with glp-1 only in the specification of the ABp fate and that apx-1 can encode a protein homologous to the Delta protein of Drosophila. Our results suggest how interactions mediated by glp-1 and apx-1 contribute to the establishment of the dorsal-ventral axis in the early C. elegans embryo.
Mello
C C
CC
Department of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109.
Draper
B W
BW
Priess
J R
JR
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002450:Cell Communication; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004627:Embryonic Induction; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D010614:Pharynx / Q000196:embryology; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015222:Sodium Channels
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C060620:Glp-1 protein, C elegans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D015222:Sodium Channels; C489774:apx-1 protein, C elegans