The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-17, which is required for certain asymmetric cell divisions, encodes a putative seven-transmembrane protein similar to the Drosophila frizzled protein.
Mutations in the gene lin-17 result in the disruption of a variety of asymmetric cell divisions in Caenorhabditis elegans. We have found that lin-17 encodes a protein with seven putative transmembrane domains. The LIN-17 protein is most similar to the Drosophila Frizzled protein and its vertebrate homologs. Studies using a lin-17-green fluorescent protein translational fusion indicate that lin-17 is expressed in mother cells before asymmetric cell divisions and in both daughter cells after the divisions. Our results suggest that lin-17 encodes a receptor that regulates the polarities of cells undergoing asymmetric cell divisions and raise the possibility that the LIN-17 protein acts as a receptor for the Wnt protein LIN-44, which also controls asymmetric cell divisions.
Sawa
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
Lobel
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Horvitz
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015139:Blotting, Southern; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D014644:Genetic Variation; D006023:Glycoproteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014170:Transformation, Genetic
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D051157:Frizzled Receptors; D006023:Glycoproteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C101684:LIN-17 protein, C elegans; C095991:LIN-44 protein, C elegans; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D043562:Receptors, G-Protein-Coupled; C058784:fz protein, Drosophila