Wnt Signaling and a Hox Protein Cooperatively Regulate PSA-3/Meis to Determine Daughter Cell Fate after Asymmetric Cell Division in C. elegans

• Published in: Developmental cell 2006-07, Vol.11 (1), p.105-115
• Main Authors: Arata, Yukinobu, Kouike, Hiroko, Zhang, Yanping, Herman, Michael A., Okano, Hideyuki, Sawa, Hitoshi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Animals, Genetically Modified; Binding Sites - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Caenorhabditis elegans - cytology; Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans - physiology; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - metabolism; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - physiology; Cell differentiation, maturation, development, hematopoiesis; Cell Division; Cell physiology; DEVBIO; DNA; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Helminth; Green Fluorescent Proteins - genetics; Green Fluorescent Proteins - metabolism; Homeodomain Proteins - genetics; Homeodomain Proteins - metabolism; Homeodomain Proteins - physiology; Introns; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular Sequence Data; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Signal Transduction; SIGNALING; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism; Wnt Proteins - genetics; Wnt Proteins - physiology
• ISSN: 1534-5807; 1878-1551
• DOI: 10.1016/j.devcel.2006.04.020

Asymmetric cell division is a mechanism for achieving cellular diversity. In C. elegans, many asymmetric cell divisions are controlled by the Wnt-MAPK pathway through POP-1/TCF. It is poorly understood, however, how POP-1 determines the specific fates of daughter cells. We found that nob-1/Hox, ceh-20/Pbx, and a Meis-related gene, psa-3, are required for asymmetric division of the T hypodermal cell. psa-3 expression was asymmetric between the T cell daughters, and it was regulated by POP-1 through a POP-1 binding site in the psa-3 gene. psa-3 expression was also regulated by NOB-1 and CEH-20 through a NOB-1 binding sequence in a psa-3 intron. PSA-3 can bind CEH-20 and function after the T cell division to promote the proper fate of the daughter cell. These results indicate that cooperation between Wnt signaling and a Hox protein functions to determine the specific fate of a daughter cell.