The C. elegans sex-determining gene fem-2 encodes a putative protein phosphatase.
The genetic and molecular analysis of genes involved in the regulation of sex determination in Caenorhabditis elegans suggests that the gene fem-2 plays an important role in regulating a pathway transducing a non-cell-autonomous signal to a nuclear transcription factor. The wild-type fem-2 gene was cloned by identifying sequences from the C. elegans physical map that could restore normal Fem-2 function to homozygous mutant fem-2 transgenic animals. cDNA sequences mapping to the minimal rescuing region correspond to an open reading frame with a sequence similar to protein phosphatase 2C enzymes from systems as diverse as yeast, humans, and plants, but the alignments suggest that FEM-2 falls into a separate class of proteins than the canonical homologues. Several fem-2 mutant alleles were sequenced, and the mutations are predicted to cause protein changes consistent with their observed phenotypes, such as missense mutations in conditional alleles, and a nonsense mutation in a predicted null allele. This is the first evidence implicating phosphorylation and/or dephosphorylation as a control mechanism in C. elegans sex determination.
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
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Pilgrim
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McGregor
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Jäckle
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Johnson
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Hansen
D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000235:genetics; D012734:Disorders of Sex Development / Q000235:genetics*; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases; D010766:Phosphorylation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012732:Sex Determination Analysis
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C097435:Fem-2 protein, C elegans; D010749:Phosphoprotein Phosphatases