title: The lin-41 RBCC gene acts in the C. elegans heterochronic pathway between the let-7 regulatory RNA and the LIN-29 transcription factor.
abstract: Null mutations in the C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-41 cause precocious expression of adult fates at larval stages. Increased lin-41 activity causes the opposite phenotype, reiteration of larval fates. let-7 mutations cause similar reiterated heterochronic phenotypes that are suppressed by lin-41 mutations, showing that lin-41 is negatively regulated by let-7. lin-41 negatively regulates the timing of LIN-29 adult specification transcription factor expression. lin-41 encodes an RBCC protein, and two elements in the lin-413'UTR are complementary to the 21 nucleotide let-7 regulatory RNA. A lin-41::GFP fusion gene is downregulated in the tissues affected by lin-41 at the time that the let-7 regulatory RNA is upregulated. We suggest that late larval activation of let-7 RNA expression downregulates LIN-41 to relieve inhibition of lin-29.
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114, USA.
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Slack
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Basson
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ambros
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Horvitz
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ruvkun
mesh_terms: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D000483:Alleles; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019521:Body Patterning / Q000235:genetics*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D015536:Down-Regulation; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D009154:Mutation; D018510:RNA, Helminth / Q000378:metabolism*; D013997:Time Factors; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D020413:3' Untranslated Regions; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins; C095571:LIN-29 protein, C elegans; C410586:LIN-41 protein, C elegans; D018510:RNA, Helminth; D014157:Transcription Factors