Postembryonic expression of Caenorhabditis elegans mab-21 and its requirement in sensory ray differentiation.
The male tail sensory rays in Caenorhabditis elegans are complex copulatory structures, the normal patterning of which requires a number of regulatory genes. Among them, mab-21 specifies the identity of sensory ray 6. By using green fluorescent protein reporters, we identify multiple cis-acting elements that control the developmental expression of mab-21. Traced with a functional mab-21:gfp gene driven by authentic regulatory sequences, mab-21 expression could be detected in hypodermal, neuronal, muscle, and ray cells. We showed here that the expression of mab-21 in the hypodermis and neuronal cells was dispensable for its function in ray 6. In contrast, its expression in the ray 6 structural cell and neurons as conferred by its 3' enhancer was crucial for determining the correct ray 6 identity.
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Department of Biology, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
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GM
Chow
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KL
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000196:embryology*; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D015801:Helminth Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D007438:Introns; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009474:Neurons / Q000378:metabolism; D010766:Phosphorylation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013997:Time Factors; D014170:Transformation, Genetic; D019076:Transgenes
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D018076:DNA, Complementary; D015801:Helminth Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C098124:Mab-21 protein, C elegans; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins