title: The C. elegans cell death specification gene ces-1 encodes a snail family zinc finger protein.
abstract: The ces-1 and ces-2 genes of C. elegans control the programmed deaths of specific neurons. Genetic evidence suggests that ces-2 functions to kill these neurons by negatively regulating the protective activity of ces-1, ces-2 encodes a protein closely related to the vertebrate PAR family of bZIP transcription factors, and a ces-2/ces-1-like pathway may play a role in regulating programmed cell death in mammalian lymphocytes. Here we show that ces-1 encodes a Snail family zinc finger protein, most similar in sequence to the Drosophila neuronal differentiation protein Scratch. We define an element important for ces-1 regulation and provide evidence that CES-2 can bind to a site within this element and thus may directly repress ces-1 transcription. Our results suggest that a transcriptional cascade controls the deaths of specific cells in C. elegans.
authors.affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139, USA.
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Metzstein
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
mesh_terms: D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D050976:Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; D001665:Binding Sites; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D016923:Cell Death / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D010641:Phenotype; D011485:Protein Binding; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D013045:Species Specificity; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D050976:Basic-Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; C100663:CES-2 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D000071250:Snail Family Transcription Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors; C121976:ces-1 protein, C elegans; C000604451:sna protein, Drosophila