Establishment of POP-1 asymmetry in early C. elegans embryos

In Caenhorabtidis elegans embryos, the nuclei of sister cells that are born from anterior/posterior divisions show an invariant high/low asymmetry, respectively, in their level of the transcription factor POP-1. Previous studies have shown that POP-1 asymmetry between the daughters of an embryonic cell called EMS results in part from a Wnt-like signal provided by a neighboring cell, called P(2). We identify here additional signaling cells that play a role in POP-1 asymmetry for other early embryonic cells. Some of these cells have signaling properties similar to P(2), whereas other cells use apparently distinct signaling pathways. Although cell signaling plays a critical role in POP-1 asymmetry during the first few cell divisions, later embryonic cells have an ability to generate POP-1 asymmetry that appears to be independent of prior Wnt signaling.