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Published February 1995 | Published
Journal Article Open

The Caenorhabditis elegans lin-12 gene mediates induction of ventral uterine specialization by the anchor cell

Abstract

The anchor cell (AC) of the Caenorhabditis elegans gonad has a critical role in the development of a functional egg-laying system, which is accomplished through cell-cell interactions. Lateral inhibitory lin-12-mediated signaling among two bipotential cells causes one to adopt the ventral uterine precursor (VU) cell fate while the other becomes the AC. The AC then induces formation of vulval tissue. We find that the AC also induces a particular ventral uterine intermediate precursor fate (pi) by a mechanism that is genetically and temporally distinct from vulval induction. This process requires lin-12, but unlike previously described lin-12-mediated decisions, signaling is unidirectional, is between dissimilar cells and does not involve lateral inhibition. The pi fates are necessary for egg laying and appear to produce a distinct specialized cell type. Thus, patterning of the ventral uterus by the AC is crucial to the development of a functional egg-laying system.

Additional Information

Copyright © 1995 by Company of Biologists. (Accepted 31 October 1994) We thank Eileen Southgate and Douglas Kershaw for the EM reconstructions of the lin-12 mutant animals. Thanks to D. Anderson, N. Bonini, H. Lester, H. Lipshitz and members of our laboratories for their comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to M. Han, J. Kimble, E. Lambie and T. Schedl for sending us strains. This research was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. P.W.S. is an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. A.P.N. was a USPHS postdoctoral fellow.

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August 22, 2023
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October 17, 2023