The cold shock domain protein LIN-28 controls developmental timing in C. elegans and is regulated by the lin-4 RNA.
Mutations in the heterochronic gene lin-28 of C. elegans cause precocious development where diverse events specific to the second larval stage are skipped. lin-28 encodes a cytoplasmic protein with a cold shock domain and retroviral-type (CCHC) zinc finger motifs, consistent with a role for LIN-28 in posttranscriptional regulation. The 3'UTR of lin-28 contains a conserved element that is complementary to the 22 nt regulatory RNA product of lin-4 and that resembles seven such elements in the 3'UTR of the heterochronic gene lin-14. Both lin-4 activity and the lin-4-complementary element (LCE) are necessary for stage-specific regulation of lin-28. Deleting the LCE produces a dominant gain-of-function allele that causes a retarded phenotype, indicating that lin-28 activity is a switch that controls choices of stage-specific fates.
Moss
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EG
Department of Biological Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA.
Lee
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RC
Ambros
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D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D003080:Cold Temperature; D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000502:physiology; D004627:Embryonic Induction / Q000502:physiology; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000502:physiology; D017238:Genes, Helminth / Q000502:physiology*; D005838:Genotype; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010641:Phenotype; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012190:Retroviridae / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C102669:LIN-14 protein, C elegans; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins