The Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of human PHF5a shows a muscle-specific expression domain and is essential for C. elegans morphogenetic development.
We have recently described a novel human and murine multigene-family that is highly conserved during evolution and shows a PHD-finger-like domain present in the deduced protein sequences. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of human PHF5a. Transgenic phf-5::yfp-reporter techniques in C. elegans identified temporal C. elegans phf-5 expression being restricted to late C. elegans development. The phf-5::yfp expression starts within the morphogenetic phase of embryonic development and lasts to the stage of adult worms. Spatial phf-5 expression is muscle-specific with an expression in the developing pharynx, in body wall muscular structures, and in the anal muscles. By phf-5 RNAi we further demonstrated that PHF-5 is essential in the morphogenetic phase of C. elegans embryonic development as well as in young larvae. In contrast, phf-5 RNAi does not show an evident phenotype to adult worms. Taken together, this is the first report providing evidence for a tissue and stage-specific expression of a PHF5a ortholog, named phf-5, in C. elegans while our data further suggest an essential role of the encoded PHF-5 protein in morphogenetic development and muscle function.
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000196:embryology / Q000378:metabolism*; D010446:Peptide Fragments / Q000276:immunology; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D051381:Rats; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators; D016335:Zinc Fingers
D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C486761:PHF5A protein, human; D010446:Peptide Fragments; C459458:Phf5a protein, mouse; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators