The C. elegans tailless/Tlx homolog nhr-67 regulates a stage-specific program of linker cell migration in male gonadogenesis.
Cell migration is a common event during organogenesis, yet little is known about how migration is temporally coordinated with organ development. We are investigating stage-specific programs of cell migration using the linker cell (LC), a migratory cell crucial for male gonadogenesis of C. elegans. During the L3 and L4 larval stages of wild-type males, the LC undergoes changes in its position along the migratory route, in transcriptional regulation of the unc-5 netrin receptor and zmp-1 zinc matrix metalloprotease, and in cell morphology. We have identified the tailless homolog nhr-67 as a cell-autonomous, stage-specific regulator of timing in LC migration programs. In nhr-67-deficient animals, each of the L3 and L4 stage changes is either severely delayed or never occurs, yet LC development before the early L3 stage or after the mid-L4 stage occurs with normal timing. We propose that there is a basal migration program utilized throughout LC migration that is modified by stage-specific regulators such as nhr-67.
Kato
Mihoko
M
HHMI and Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
Sternberg
Paul W
PW
D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000235:genetics*; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian; D007814:Larva / Q000166:cytology / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000235:genetics; D034622:RNA Interference; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; C520004:Nhr-67 protein, C elegans; D018160:Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear