Abstract
The Caenorhabditis elegans gene lin-1 appears to act after the Ras-Raf- MEK-MAPK signaling cascade that mediates vulval induction. We show that lin- 1 is a negative regulator of vulval cell fates and encodes an ETS-domain putative transcription factor containing potential MAPK phosphorylation sites. In lin-1 null mutants, the vulval precursor cells (VPCs) still respond to signaling from the gonadal anchor cell, indicating that lin-1 defines a branch of the inductive signaling pathway. We also provide evidence that the inductive and lateral signaling pathways are integrated to control the 1° and 2° vulval cell fates after the point at which lin-1 acts in the inductive pathway and that VPCs can assess the relative rather than absolute levels of inductive and lateral signaling in determining whether to express the 1° or 2° vulval cell fates.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 3149-3162 |
Number of pages | 14 |
Journal | Genes and Development |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 24 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 15 1995 |
Keywords
- C. elegans
- ETS
- cell fate
- lin-1
- signal transduction
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Genetics
- Developmental Biology