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PMID: 19361491 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

The C. elegans sex determination gene laf-1 encodes a putative DEAD-box RNA helicase.

Developmental biology ·Vol. 330 ·No. 2 ·2009-06-15 ·Pages 358-67

Hubert A, Anderson P

Abstract

The Caenorhabditis elegans gene laf-1 is critical for both embryonic development and sex determination. Laf-1 is thought to promote male cell fates by negatively regulating expression of tra-2 in both hermaphrodites and males. We cloned laf-1 and established that it encodes a putative DEAD-box RNA helicase related to Saccharomycescerevisiae Ded1p and Drosophila Vasa. Three sequenced laf-1 mutations are missense alleles affecting a small region of the protein in or near helicase motif III. We demonstrate that the phenotypes resulting from laf-1 mutations are due to loss or reduction of laf-1 function, and that both laf-1 and a related helicase vbh-1 function in germline sex determination. Laf-1 mRNA is expressed in both males and hermaphrodites and in both the germline and soma of hermaphrodites. It is expressed at all developmental stages and is most abundant in embryos. LAF-1 is predominantly, if not exclusively, cytoplasmic and colocalizes with PGL-1 in P granules of germline precursor cells. Previous results suggest that laf-1 functions to negatively regulate expression of the sex determination protein TRA-2, and we find that the abundance of TRA-2 is modestly elevated in laf-1/+ females. We discuss potential functions of LAF-1 as a helicase and its roles in sex determination.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Animals Blotting, Northern Caenorhabditis elegans/embryology,genetics DEAD-box RNA Helicases/chemistry,genetics Female Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental Germ Cells Male Molecular Sequence Data Mutation Phylogeny RNA Interference Sequence Homology, Amino Acid Sex Determination Processes Transgenes
Chemicals
DEAD-box RNA Helicases
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Hubert Amy
Department of Genetics, University of Wisconsin, 425-G Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
Anderson Philip
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Article Info
Journal
Developmental biology
Abbr.
Dev Biol
ISSN
1095-564X
DOI
10.1016/j.ydbio.2009.04.003
Published
2009-06-15
Epub
2009-00-08
Pages
358-67
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
0372762
PMCID
PMC2802855
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM050933 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM073183 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM073183-01 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM073138 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2009.04.003 PMC Full Text View journal details
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