Influences of LIN-12/Notch and POP-1/TCF on the Robustness of Ventral Uterine Cell Fate Specification in Caenorhabditis elegans Gonadogenesis.
The prospective ventral uterus of the hermaphrodite gonad primordium consists of two pairs of sister cells, with each pair consisting of a proximal "α" cell and a distal "β" cell. All four cells initially are competent to become the anchor cell (AC), a unique cell type that acts as the organizer of subsequent uterine and vulval development. However, the β cells soon lose this competence and always become ventral uterine precursor cells (VUs), whereas the α cells maintain their AC competence longer, until lin-12/Notch-mediated interactions between them specify one as the AC and the other as a VU. Here, we investigate this asymmetry in developmental potential and VU fate specification between the α and β sister cells. We find evidence that lin-12 activity contributes to the robustness of βVU fate at elevated temperature, that the Caenorhabditis elegans Notch paralog glp-1 is not functionally redundant with lin-12 in specifying βVU fate, and that the activity of POP-1, the sole C. elegans TCF ortholog, influences βVU fate. We propose a model for how Wnt and LIN-12/Notch signaling together lead to robust specification of the βVU fate.
Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University Medical Center, New York 10032.
Maria D
MD
Sallee
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York 10032.
Taner
T
Aydin
Department of Genetics and Development, Columbia University Medical Center, New York 10032 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University Medical Center, New York 10032 iva.columbia@gmail.com.
Iva
I
Greenwald
D000483:Alleles; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006066:Gonads / Q000196:embryology* / Q000378:metabolism*; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D050417:Insulin-Secreting Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D008954:Models, Biological; D009154:Mutation; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics*; D010641:Phenotype; D051880:Receptors, Notch / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D051820:TCF Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D013696:Temperature; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway
D029742:Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D006609:High Mobility Group Proteins; C082460:Lin-12 protein, C elegans; D051880:Receptors, Notch; D051820:TCF Transcription Factors; C096787:pop-1 protein, C elegans
C. elegans; Notch; POP-1; gonadogenesis; lin-12