Mutations in cye-1, a Caenorhabditis elegans cyclin E homolog, reveal coordination between cell-cycle control and vulval development.
We have identified strong loss-of-function mutations in the C. elegans cyclin E gene, cye-1. Mutations in cye-1 lead to the underproliferation of many postembryonic blast lineages as well as defects in fertility and gut-cell endoreduplication. In addition, cye-1 is required maternally, but not zygotically for embryonic development. Our analysis of vulval development in cye-1 mutants suggests that a timing mechanism may control the onset of vulval cell terminal differentiation: once induced, these cells appear to differentiate after a set amount of time, rather than a specific number of division cycles. cye-1 mutants also show an increase in the percentage of vulval precursor cells (VPCs) that adopt vulval cell fates, indicating that cell-cycle length can play a role in the proper patterning of vulval cells. By analyzing cul-1 mutants, we further demonstrate that vulval cell terminal differentiation can be uncoupled from associated changes in vulval cell division planes.
Fay
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Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder CO 80309-0347, USA. fayd@alpha.colorado.edu
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D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001683:Biological Clocks; D015415:Biomarkers; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002452:Cell Count; D002453:Cell Cycle / Q000235:genetics*; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division / Q000235:genetics; D019070:Cell Lineage; D044842:Cullin Proteins; D019927:Cyclin E / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D004261:DNA Replication / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D017238:Genes, Helminth / Q000235:genetics; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000166:cytology; D014844:Vulva / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism
D015415:Biomarkers; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C100318:Cullin 1; D044842:Cullin Proteins; D019927:Cyclin E; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D012330:RNA, Double-Stranded