Caenorhabditis elegans lin-13, a member of the LIN-35 Rb class of genes involved in vulval development, encodes a protein with zinc fingers and an LXCXE motif.
The SynMuv genes appear to be involved in providing a signal that inhibits vulval precursor cells from adopting vulval fates in Caenorhabditis elegans. One group of SynMuv genes, termed class B, includes genes encoding proteins related to the tumor suppressor Rb and RbAp48, a protein that binds Rb. Here, we provide genetic evidence that lin-13 behaves as a class B SynMuv gene. We show that null alleles of lin-13 are temperature sensitive and maternally rescued, resulting in phenotypes ranging in severity from L2 arrest (when both maternal and zygotic activities are removed at 25 degrees ), to sterile Multivulva (when only zygotic activity is removed at 25 degrees ), to sterile non-Multivulva (when both maternal and zygotic activities are removed at 15 degrees ), to wild-type/class B SynMuv (when only zygotic activity is removed at 15 degrees ). We also show that LIN-13 is a nuclear protein that contains multiple zinc fingers and a motif, LXCXE, that has been implicated in Rb binding. These results together suggest a role for LIN-13 in Rb-mediated repression of vulval fates.
Meléndez
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Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, New York 10032, USA.
Greenwald
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D020816:Amino Acid Motifs / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D019070:Cell Lineage / Q000235:genetics; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D005260:Female; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009154:Mutation; D010641:Phenotype; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013696:Temperature; D014844:Vulva / Q000166:cytology / Q000196:embryology*; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics*; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000235:genetics
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018389:Codon, Nonsense; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; C116485:lin-35 protein, C elegans; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D001616:beta-Galactosidase