A tissue-specific enhancer of the C. elegans nhr-67/tailless gene drives coordinated expression in uterine stem cells and the differentiated anchor cell

Publication date: Available online 4 November 2018Source: Gene Expression PatternsAuthor(s): Shari Bodofsky, Katarina Liberatore, Lauren Pioppo, Dominic Lapadula, Lily Thompson, Susanna Birnbaum, George McClung, Akshara Kartik, Sheila Clever, Bruce WightmanAbstractThe nhr-67 nuclear receptor gene of Caenorhabditis elegans encodes the ortholog of the Drosophila tailless and vertebrate Tlx genes. In C. elegans, nhr-67 plays multiple roles in the development of the uterus during L2 and L3 larval stages. Four pre-VU cells are born in the L2 stage and form the precursor complement for the ventral surface of the mature uterus. One of the four pre-VU cells becomes the anchor cell (AC), which exits the cell cycle and differentiates, while the remaining three VU cells serve as stem cells that populate the ventral uterus. The nhr-67 gene functions in the development of both VU cell lineages and AC differentiation. Hypomorphic mutations in nhr-67 identify a 276bp region of the distal promoter that is sufficient to activate nhr-67 expression in pre-VU cells and the AC. The 276bp region includes 8 conserved potential cis-acting sites, including two E boxes and a nuclear receptor binding site. Mutational analysis demonstrates that the two E boxes are required for expression of nhr-67 in uterine precursor cells. The E/daughterless ortholog HLH-2 binds these sites as a homodimer, thus playing a central role in activating nhr-67 expression in the uterine precursors. At least two other binding...
Source: Gene Expression Patterns - Category: Genetics & Stem Cells Source Type: research