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- Title
The Conserved ASCL1/MASH-1 Ortholog HLH-3 Specifies Sex-Specific Ventral Cord Motor Neuron Fate in Caenorhabditis elegans.
- Authors
Perez, Lillian M.; Alfonso, Aixa
- Abstract
Neural specification is regulated by one or many transcription factors that control expression of effector genes that mediate function and determine neuronal type. Here we identify a novel role for one conserved proneural factor, the bHLH protein HLH-3, implicated in the specification of sex-specific ventral cord motor neurons in C. elegans. Proneural genes act in early stages of neurogenesis in early progenitors, but here, we demonstrate a later role for hlh-3. First, we document that differentiation of the ventral cord type C motor neuron class (VC) within their neuron class, is dynamic in time and space. Expression of VC classspecific and subclass-specific identity genes is distinct through development and is dependent on the VC position along the A-P axis and their proximity to the vulva. Our characterization of the expression of VC class and VC subclass-specific differentiation markers in the absence of hlh-3 function reveals that VC fate specification, differentiation, and morphology requires hlh-3 function. Finally, we conclude that hlh-3 cell-autonomously specifies VC cell fate.
- Subjects
CAENORHABDITIS elegans; MOTOR neurons; TRANSCRIPTION factors; VULVA; MOTOR neuron diseases; MORPHOLOGY; NEURONS
- Publication
G3: Genes | Genomes | Genetics, 2020, Vol 10, Issue 11, p4201
- ISSN
2160-1836
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1534/g3.120.401458