C. elegans BED domain transcription factor BED-3 controls lineage-specific cell proliferation during organogenesis.
The control of cell division is critical to organogenesis, but how this control is achieved is not fully understood. We found that mutations in bed-3, encoding a BED Zn-finger domain transcription factor, confer a phenotype where a specific set of cell divisions during vulval organogenesis is lost. Unlike general cell cycle regulators in Caenorhabditis elegans, the function of bed-3 is restricted to specific lineages. Transcriptional reporters suggest that bed-3 is expressed in a limited number of cell types including vulval cells whose divisions are affected in bed-3 mutants. A bed-3 mutation also affects the expression pattern of the cdh-3 cadherin gene in the vulva. The phenotype of bed-3 mutants is similar to the phenotype caused by mutations in cog-1 (Nkx6), a component of a gene regulatory network controlling cell type specific gene expression in the vulval lineage. These results suggest that bed-3 is a key component linking the gene regulatory network controlling cell-type specification to control of cell division during vulval organogenesis.
Inoue
Takao
T
Department of Biochemistry, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore. bchti@nus.edu.sg
Sternberg
Paul W
PW
D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000502:physiology*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division; D019070:Cell Lineage; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D053263:Gene Regulatory Networks; D038081:Organogenesis; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000502:physiology*; D014844:Vulva / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism
C548502:BED-3 protein, C elegans; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors