Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae

The nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae is an excellent model organism for the comparative analysis of gene function and developmental mechanisms. To study the evolutionary conservation and divergence of genetic pathways mediating vulva formation, we screened for mutations in C. briggsae that cause the...

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Main Authors:	Sharanya, Devika, Thillainathan, Bavithra, Marri, Sujatha, Bojanala, Nagagireesh, Taylor, Jon, Flibotte, Stephane, Moerman, Donald G., Waterston, Robert H., Gupta, Bhagwati P.
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Genetics Society of America 2012
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3516484/

id	pubmed-3516484
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-35164842012-12-28 Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae Sharanya, Devika Thillainathan, Bavithra Marri, Sujatha Bojanala, Nagagireesh Taylor, Jon Flibotte, Stephane Moerman, Donald G. Waterston, Robert H. Gupta, Bhagwati P. Investigations The nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae is an excellent model organism for the comparative analysis of gene function and developmental mechanisms. To study the evolutionary conservation and divergence of genetic pathways mediating vulva formation, we screened for mutations in C. briggsae that cause the egg-laying defective (Egl) phenotype. Here, we report the characterization of 13 genes, including three that are orthologs of Caenorhabditis elegans unc-84 (SUN domain), lin-39 (Dfd/Scr-related homeobox), and lin-11 (LIM homeobox). Based on the morphology and cell fate changes, the mutants were placed into four different categories. Class 1 animals have normal-looking vulva and vulva-uterine connections, indicating defects in other components of the egg-laying system. Class 2 animals frequently lack some or all of the vulval precursor cells (VPCs) due to defects in the migration of P-cell nuclei into the ventral hypodermal region. Class 3 animals show inappropriate fusion of VPCs to the hypodermal syncytium, leading to a reduced number of vulval progeny. Finally, class 4 animals exhibit abnormal vulval invagination and morphology. Interestingly, we did not find mutations that affect VPC induction and fates. Our work is the first study involving the characterization of genes in C. briggsae vulva formation, and it offers a basis for future investigations of these genes in C. elegans. Genetics Society of America 2012-12-01 /pmc/articles/PMC3516484/ /pubmed/23275885 http://dx.doi.org/10.1534/g3.112.004598 Text en Copyright © 2012 Sharanya et al. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Unported License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Sharanya, Devika Thillainathan, Bavithra Marri, Sujatha Bojanala, Nagagireesh Taylor, Jon Flibotte, Stephane Moerman, Donald G. Waterston, Robert H. Gupta, Bhagwati P.
spellingShingle	Sharanya, Devika Thillainathan, Bavithra Marri, Sujatha Bojanala, Nagagireesh Taylor, Jon Flibotte, Stephane Moerman, Donald G. Waterston, Robert H. Gupta, Bhagwati P. Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
author_facet	Sharanya, Devika Thillainathan, Bavithra Marri, Sujatha Bojanala, Nagagireesh Taylor, Jon Flibotte, Stephane Moerman, Donald G. Waterston, Robert H. Gupta, Bhagwati P.
author_sort	Sharanya, Devika
title	Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
title_short	Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
title_full	Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
title_fullStr	Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
title_full_unstemmed	Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae
title_sort	genetic control of vulval development in caenorhabditis briggsae
description	The nematode Caenorhabditis briggsae is an excellent model organism for the comparative analysis of gene function and developmental mechanisms. To study the evolutionary conservation and divergence of genetic pathways mediating vulva formation, we screened for mutations in C. briggsae that cause the egg-laying defective (Egl) phenotype. Here, we report the characterization of 13 genes, including three that are orthologs of Caenorhabditis elegans unc-84 (SUN domain), lin-39 (Dfd/Scr-related homeobox), and lin-11 (LIM homeobox). Based on the morphology and cell fate changes, the mutants were placed into four different categories. Class 1 animals have normal-looking vulva and vulva-uterine connections, indicating defects in other components of the egg-laying system. Class 2 animals frequently lack some or all of the vulval precursor cells (VPCs) due to defects in the migration of P-cell nuclei into the ventral hypodermal region. Class 3 animals show inappropriate fusion of VPCs to the hypodermal syncytium, leading to a reduced number of vulval progeny. Finally, class 4 animals exhibit abnormal vulval invagination and morphology. Interestingly, we did not find mutations that affect VPC induction and fates. Our work is the first study involving the characterization of genes in C. briggsae vulva formation, and it offers a basis for future investigations of these genes in C. elegans.
publisher	Genetics Society of America
publishDate	2012
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3516484/
_version_	1611938699224809472

Genetic Control of Vulval Development in Caenorhabditis briggsae

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