mig-5/Dsh Controls Cell Fate Determination and Cell Migration in C. elegans

Authors

Timothy Walston, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow
Chaobo Guo, Johns Hopkins University
Rui Proenca, Johns Hopkins UniversityFollow
Mingfu Wu, Kansas State UniversityFollow
Michael Herman, Kansas State UniversityFollow
Jeff Hardin, University of Wisconsin-MadisonFollow
Edward Hedgecock, Johns Hopkins UniversityFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

10-2006

Citation

Developmental Biology 298:2 (October 2006), pp. 485–497.

doi:10.1016/j.ydbio.2006.06.053

Comments

Copyright © 2006 Elsevier, Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

Cell fate determination and cell migration are two essential events in the development of an organism. We identify mig-5, a Dishevelled family member, as a gene that regulates several cell fate decisions and cell migrations that are important during C. elegans embryonic and larval development. In offspring from mig-5 mutants, cell migrations are defective during hypodermal morphogenesis, QL neuroblast migration, and the gonad arm migration led by the distal tip cells (DTCs). In addition to abnormal migration, DTC fate is affected, resulting in either an absent or an extra DTC. The cell fates of the anchor cell in hermaphrodites and the linker cells in the male gonad are also defective, often resulting in the cells adopting the fates of their sister lineage. Moreover, 2° vulval precursor cells occasionally adopt the 3° vulval cell fate, resulting in a deformed vulva, and the P12 hypodermal precursor often differentiates into a second P11 cell. These defects demonstrate that MIG-5 is essential in determining proper cell fate and cell migration throughout C. elegans development.