The caenorhabditis elegans fate-determining gene mab-9 encodes a T-box protein required to pattern the posterior hindgut.
Caenorhabditis elegans mab-9 mutants are defective in hindgut and male tail development because of cell fate transformations in two posterior blast cells, B and F. We have cloned mab-9 and show that it encodes a member of the T-box family of transcriptional regulators. MAB-9 localizes to the nucleus of B and F and their descendents during development, suggesting that it acts cell autonomously in the posterior hindgut to direct cell fate. T-box genes related to brachyury have also been implicated in hindgut patterning, and our results support models for an evolutionarily ancient role for these genes in hindgut formation.
Woollard
A
A
Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB), Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK. woollard@bioch.ox.ac.uk
Hodgkin
J
J
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000502:physiology; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013623:Tail; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C406749:Mab-9 protein, C elegans; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors