The Caenorhabditis elegans schnurri homolog sma-9 mediates stage- and cell type-specific responses to DBL-1 BMP-related signaling.
In Caenorhabditis elegans, the DBL-1 pathway, a BMP/TGFbeta-related signaling cascade, regulates body size and male tail development. We have cloned a new gene, sma-9, that encodes the C. elegans homolog of Schnurri, a large zinc finger transcription factor that regulates dpp target genes in Drosophila. Genetic interactions, the sma-9 loss-of-function phenotype, and the expression pattern suggest that sma-9 acts as a downstream component and is required in the DBL-1 signaling pathway, and thus provide the first evidence of a conserved role for Schnurri proteins in BMP signaling. Analysis of sma-9 mutant phenotypes demonstrates that SMA-9 activity is temporally and spatially restricted relative to known DBL-1 pathway components. In contrast with Drosophila schnurri, the presence of multiple alternatively spliced sma-9 transcripts suggests protein isoforms with potentially different cell sublocalization and molecular functions. We propose that SMA-9 isoforms function as transcriptional cofactors that confer specific responses to DBL-1 pathway activation.
Liang
Jun
J
Department of Biology, Queens College, The City University of New York, Flushing, NY 11367, USA.
Lints
Robyn
R
Foehr
Marisa L
ML
Tokarz
Rafal
R
Yu
Ling
L
Emmons
Scott W
SW
Liu
Jun
J
Savage-Dunn
Cathy
C
D017398:Alternative Splicing; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013623:Tail / Q000196:embryology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000502:physiology
D019485:Bone Morphogenetic Proteins; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C483687:Sma-9 protein, C elegans; D014157:Transcription Factors; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins