cis-Regulatory control of three cell fate-specific genes in vulval organogenesis of C. elegans and C. briggsae

biology;C. elegans;cdh-3;cis-regulation;development;egl-17;genomics;transcription;vulva;zmp-1

Kirouac, Martha ; Sternberg, Paul W.

University:California Institute of Technology

Department:Biology

关键词: biology;    C. elegans;    cdh-3;    cis-regulation;    development;    egl-17;    genomics;    transcription;    vulva;    zmp-1;   

Others  :  https://thesis.library.caltech.edu/3751/1/0_Contents.pdf

美国|英语

来源: Caltech THESIS

【 摘 要 】

The great-grandprogeny of the Caenorhabditis elegans vulval precursor cells (VPCs) adopt one of the final vulA, B1, B2, C, D, E and F cell types in a precise spatial pattern. Formation of the pattern of vulval cell types is likely to depend upon the cis-regulatory regions of the transcriptional targets of these intercellular signals in vulval development. The outcome of such differential activation will result in individual cell types. egl-17, zmp-1, cdh-3 are expressed differentially in the developing vulva cells, providing a potential readout for different signaling pathways. To understand how different signaling pathways interact to specify unique vulval cell types in a precise pattern, I have identified upstream cis-regulatory regions that are sufficient for their ability to confer vulval cell type-specific regulation when fused in cis to the basal pes-10 promoter. In the egl-17 promoter, I have identified a 143 base pair (bp) region that drives vulC and vulD expression, and a 102 bp region that is sufficient to drive the early expression in presumptive vulE and vulF cells. In the zmp-1 promoter, I have identified a 300 bp region that is sufficient to drive expression in vulE, vulA and the anchor cell. In the cdh-3 promoter, I have identified a 689 bp region sufficient to drive expression in the anchor cell and vulE, vulF, vulD and vulC, a 155 bp region sufficient to drive only anchor cell expression, and a separate 563 bp region that was also sufficient to drive expression in these vulval cells. I have identified the C. briggsae homologs of these three genes, and the corresponding control regions, and tested these regions in both C. elegans and C. briggsae. I find that these regions of similarity in C. elegans and C. briggsae upstream of egl-17, zmp-1, and cdh-3 promote expression in vulval cells and the anchor cell. Using the regions defined by the sufficiency analysis and phylogenetic footprinting, I have been able to isolate over-represented sequences that may play important roles in conferring vulval and anchor cell expression.