MEX-3 is a KH domain protein that regulates blastomere identity in early C. elegans embryos.
After the first division of the C. elegans embryo, the posterior blastomere can produce numerous muscles while the anterior blastomere cannot. We show here that maternal-effect lethal mutations in the gene mex-3 cause descendants of the anterior blastomere to produce muscles by a pattern of development similar to that of a descendant of the wild-type posterior blastomere. mex-3 encodes a probable RNA-binding protein that is distributed unequally in early embryos and that is a component of germline-specific granules called P granules. We propose that MEX-3 contributes to anterior-posterior asymmetry by regulating one or more mRNAs involved in specifying the fate of the posterior blastomere.
Draper
B W
BW
Department of Basic Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, Washington 98109, USA.
Mello
C C
CC
Bowerman
B
B
Hardin
J
J
Priess
J R
JR
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001757:Blastomeres / Q000166:cytology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism; D003594:Cytoplasmic Granules / Q000378:metabolism; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D005804:Genes, Lethal; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009132:Muscles / Q000196:embryology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C102175:MEX-3 protein, C elegans; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins