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Six4/5 Family Transcription Factor UNC-39 Controls the Development of RID Neuron in Caenorhabditis elegans

Members of the Six4/5 family of homeobox transcription factors have been implicated in multiple human disorders, including type I mytonic dystrophy, branchio-oto-renal syndrome, and holoprosencephaly, suggesting a role for these factors in the nervous system development.
Using a forward genetics approach, we identified unc-39, a C. elegans homologue of the human SIX5 gene, as a novel regulator of the development of a specific neuron, called RID. Our data support the role of unc-39 early in C. elegans development and suggest a possibility of complete absence of RID neuron in unc-39 mutants. unc-39 mutant has a similar locomotion phenotype to the RID-ablated animals, which provides further support to the hypothesis that the absence of RID contributes to the locomotion phenotype observed in the mutant. We show that unc-39 functions at multiple points in the lineage that gives rise to the RID neuron, and that its function is context-dependent.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/35632
Date15 July 2013
CreatorsLaskova, Valeriya
ContributorsZhen, Mei
Source SetsUniversity of Toronto
Languageen_ca
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis

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