Characterization of Ce-atl-1, an ATM-like gene from Caenorhabditis elegans.
An ATM-like gene was identified in the genome of Caenorhabditis elegans. The putative product of the gene, termed Ce-atl-1 (C. elegans ATM-like 1) consists of 2514 amino acid residues. The C-terminal sequence, which contains a PI-3 kinase-like domain, showed good homology with the products of the gene MEC1/ESR1 from budding yeast, the rad3+ gene of fission yeast and mammalian ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia and rad3+ related) genes. The results of RNA-mediated interference indicated that the major phenotype associated with repression of Ce-atl-1 was lethality (approximately 50-80%) during early embryogenesis. Among the surviving progeny, males (XO animals) arose at a high frequency (2-30%). In addition, 5% of oocyte chromosomes demonstrated aneuploidy due to a defect in pre-meiotic chromosomal segregation. Gene expression analyses indicated that Ce-atl-1 mRNA was expressed in all larval stages and that its level increased about fivefold in the adult stage. The adult expression level was decreased in the glp-4 mutant, which is defective in germ line proliferation. Ce-atl-1 was strongly expressed in both the mitotic and meiotic cells of adult gonads. In summary, Ce-atl-1 appears to be important for early embryogenesis, and loss of its function results in a defect in chromosome segregation, similar to what has been observed for AT-related proteins.
Aoki
H
H
Institute of Genetic Ecology, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.
Sato
S
S
Takanami
T
T
Ishihara
T
T
Katsura
I
I
Takahashi
H
H
Higashitani
A
A
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000254:growth & development; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D005260:Female; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D007814:Larva; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D010802:Phylogeny; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D016053:RNA, Protozoan / Q000235:genetics; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D011506:Proteins; D016053:RNA, Protozoan; D025521:Tumor Suppressor Proteins; C576885:Atl-1 protein, C elegans; D010770:Phosphotransferases; D064007:Ataxia Telangiectasia Mutated Proteins; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases