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The Caenorhabditis elegans nuclear recep ... ates epidermal cell development
The Caenorhabditis elegans nuclear receptor gene nhr-25 regulates epidermal cell development.
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The development of the epidermis of Caenorhabditis elegans involves cell fusion, migration, and differentiation events. To understand the mechanisms underlying these processes, we characterized the roles of NHR-25, a member of the nuclear receptor family of transcription factors. The NHR-25 homologs Ftz-F1 in Drosophila and SF-1 in mammals are involved in various biological processes, including regulation of patterning during development, reproduction, metabolism, metamorphosis, and homeostasis. Impairment of nhr-25 activity leads to severe phenotypes in embryos and many postembryonic tissues. Further analysis has indicated that nhr-25 activity is required for the proper development, including cell-cell fusion, of several epidermal cell types, such as the epidermal syncytial, seam, and Pn.p cells. Our results also suggest that nhr-25 is likely to regulate cell-cell junctions and/or fusion. In a subset of Pn.p cells, called vulval precursor cells, nhr-25 acts collaboratively with the lin-39 Hox gene in regulating vulval cell differentiation. Additionally, our data suggest that nhr-25 may also function with another Hox gene, nob-1, during embryogenesis. Overall, our results indicate that nhr-25 plays an integral role in regulating cellular processes of epidermal cells.
Chen Z, Eastburn DJ, Han M
Molecular and cellular biology
2004-09-01 00:00
24
17
7345-58
Adherens Junctions,Amino Acid Sequence,Animals,Caenorhabditis elegans,Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins,Cell Differentiation,Cell Fusion,Cell Size,DNA-Binding Proteins,Embryo, Nonmammalian,Epidermis,Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors,Genes, Reporter,Homeodomain Proteins,Humans,Molecular Sequence Data,Mutation,Nuclear Proteins,Phenotype,RNA Interference,Sequence Alignment,Trans-Activators,Transcription Factors,Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins,DNA-Binding Proteins,Fushi Tarazu Transcription Factors,Homeodomain Proteins,NOB-1 protein, C elegans,Nuclear Proteins,Trans-Activators,Transcription Factors,lin-39 protein, C elegans,nuclear hormone receptor NHR-25, C elegans
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Mol. Cell. Biol.
NIGMS GM47869
0270-7306
10.1128/MCB.24.17.7345-7358.2004
24/17/7345
523
True
15314147
