Abstract
After the first division of the C. elegans embryo, the posterior blastomere can produce numerous muscles while the anterior blastomere cannot. We show here that maternal-effect lethal mutations in the gene mex-3 cause descendants of the anterior blastomere to produce muscles by a pattern of development similar to that of a descendant of the wild-type posterior blastomere. mex-3 encodes a probable RNA-binding protein that is distributed unequally in early embryos and that is a component of germline-specific granules called P granules. We propose that MEX-3 contributes to anterior- posterior asymmetry by regulating one or more mRNAs involved in specifying the fate of the posterior blastomere.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 205-216 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Cell |
Volume | 87 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 18 1996 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cell Biology
- Molecular Biology