title: Proteolysis in Caenorhabditis elegans sex determination: cleavage of TRA-2A by TRA-3.
abstract: The Caenorhabditis elegans tra-3 gene promotes female development in XX hermaphrodites and encodes an atypical calpain regulatory protease lacking calcium-binding EF hands. We report that despite the absence of EF hands, TRA-3 has calcium-dependent proteolytic activity and its proteolytic domain is essential for in vivo function. We show that the membrane protein TRA-2A, which promotes XX female development by repressing the masculinizing protein FEM-3, is a TRA-3 substrate. Cleavage of TRA-2A by TRA-3 generates a peptide predicted to have feminizing activity. These results indicate that proteolysis regulated by calcium may control some aspects of sexual cell fate in C. elegans.
authors.affiliation: Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK.
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Sokol
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Kuwabara
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001665:Binding Sites; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002154:Calpain / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D019070:Cell Lineage; D010450:Endopeptidases / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D015151:Immunoblotting; D008297:Male; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D010957:Plasmids; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019849:Sex Determination Processes; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; C076107:tra-2 protein, C elegans; D010450:Endopeptidases; D002154:Calpain; C102444:TRA-3 protein, C elegans