title: The canonical eIF4E isoform of C. elegans regulates growth, embryogenesis, and germline sex-determination.
abstract: eIF4E plays a conserved role in initiating protein synthesis, but with multiple eIF4E isoforms present in many organisms, these proteins also adopt specialized functions. Previous RNAi studies showed that ife-3, encoding the sole canonical eIF4E isoform of Caenorhabditis elegans, is essential for viability. Using ife-3 gene mutations, we show here that it is maternal ife-3 function that is essential for embryogenesis, but ife-3 null progeny of heterozygous animals are viable. We find that zygotic ife-3 function promotes body growth and regulates germline development in hermaphrodite worms. Specifically, the normal transition from spermatogenesis to oogenesis in the hermaphrodite germline fails in ife-3 mutants. This failure to switch is reversed by inhibiting expression of the key masculinizing gene, fem-3, suggesting ife-3 resembles a growing number of genes that promote the sperm/oocyte switch by acting genetically as upstream inhibitors of fem-3.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
authors.forename: Richard S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Mangio
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA.
authors.forename: SarahBeth
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Votra
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell and Developmental Biology, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA pruyned@upstate.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pruyne
keywords: C. elegans; EIF4E; Germline; Oogenesis; Sex-determination; Spermatogenesis