Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 17, 2026

Cell Cycle Analysis in the C. elegans Germline with the Thymidine Analog EdU
Published on: October 22, 2018
Fate specification and tissue-specific cell cycle control of the Caenorhabditis elegans intestine
Alexandra Segref1, Juan Cabello, Caroline Clucas
1Division of Molecular Genetics, Institute of Biomedical and Life Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Coordination between cell fate specification and cell cycle control in multicellular organisms is essential to regulate cell numbers in tissues and organs during development, and its failure may lead to oncogenesis. In mammalian cells, as part of a general cell cycle checkpoint mechanism, the F-box protein beta-transducin repeat-containing protein (beta-TrCP) and the Skp1/Cul1/F-box complex control the periodic cell cycle fluctuations in abundance of the CDC25A and B phosphatases. Here, we find that the Caenorhabditis elegans beta-TrCP orthologue LIN-23 regulates a progressive decline of CDC-25.1 abundance over several embryonic cell cycles and specifies cell number of one tissue, the embryonic intestine. The negative regulation of CDC-25.1 abundance by LIN-23 may be developmentally controlled because CDC-25.1 accumulates over time within the developing germline, where LIN-23 is also present. Concurrent with the destabilization of CDC-25.1, LIN-23 displays a spatially dynamic behavior in the embryo, periodically entering a nuclear compartment where CDC-25.1 is abundant.
Related Concept Videos
Role Of Notch Signalling In Intestinal Stem Cell Renewal
Direct cell-to-cell contact is needed for the activation of Notch signaling. The signal is initiated when a notch ligand binds to a receptor on an adjacent cell, also...
The Cell Cycle Control System
Cyclins and cyclin-dependent kinases (Cdks) are the primary cell cycle regulators and function at the cell...
Renewal of Intestinal Stem Cells
Cells Coordinate Growth and Proliferation
Role of Ephrin-Eph Signalling in Intestinal Stem Cell Renewal
Determination

