title: Asymmetric distribution of the C. elegans HAM-1 protein in neuroblasts enables daughter cells to adopt distinct fates.
abstract: One mechanism of generating cellular diversity is to distribute developmental potential asymmetrically to daughter cells at mitosis. Two observations described in this report suggest that the C. elegans HAM-1 protein functions in dividing neuroblasts to produce daughter cells that adopt distinct fates. First, HAM-1 is asymmetrically distributed to the periphery of certain mitotic cells, ensuring that it will be inherited by only one daughter cell. Second, ham-1 mutations disrupt the asymmetric divisions of five neuroblasts. In one of these divisions, loss of ham-1 function causes the daughter cell that does not inherit HAM-1 to adopt the fate of the daughter cell that normally inherits HAM-1. We propose that asymmetric distribution of HAM-1 enables daughter cells to adopt distinct fates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California, Berkeley 94720-3204, USA.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Guenther
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garriga
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002451:Cell Compartmentation; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D002470:Cell Survival; D019084:Fluorescent Antibody Technique, Indirect; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D008938:Mitosis; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000166:cytology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D009420:Nervous System / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology; D009475:Neurons, Afferent / Q000166:cytology; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C103072:HAM-1 protein, C elegans; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D012701:Serotonin