The C. elegans SoxC protein SEM-2 opposes differentiation factors to promote a proliferative blast cell fate in the

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Chenxi Tian1, Herong Shi, Clark Colledge

  • 1Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

Development (Cambridge, England)
|February 11, 2011
PubMed

Insights

The C. elegans SEM-2/SoxC protein is essential for promoting cell proliferation and maintaining the sex myoblast fate. Hox-PBC factors directly regulate SEM-2 expression, suggesting a broader role in cell proliferation control.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Molecular Biology
  • Genetics

Background:

  • Multicellular organism development relies on regulated cell fate specification, proliferation, and differentiation.
  • Aberrant regulation of these processes can lead to diseases like cancer.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the function of the C. elegans SoxC protein, SEM-2, in the M lineage.
  • To understand the role of SEM-2 in promoting cell proliferation and specific cell fates.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of SEM-2 function in the M lineage of C. elegans.
  • Investigating the regulation of sem-2 gene expression.

Main Results:

  • SEM-2/SoxC is necessary and sufficient to promote a proliferating blast cell fate (sex myoblast) over a differentiated fate (striated bodywall muscle).
  • Hox-PBC complexes directly control sem-2 expression in sex myoblast precursors.

Conclusions:

  • SEM-2/SoxC plays a critical role in cell fate decisions within the C. elegans M lineage.
  • Hox-PBC factors may generally link to SoxC proteins in regulating cell proliferation during development.

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