Authors: Lundquist EA; Herman RK; Rogalski TM; Mullen GP; Moerman DG; Shaw JE
Abstract: Mutations in the mec-8 gene of Caenorhabditis elegans were previously shown to affect the functions of body wall muscle and mechanosensory and chemosensory neurons. Mutations in mec-8 also strongly enhance the mutant phenotype of specific mutations in unc-52, a gene that encodes, via alternative splicing of pre-mRNA, a set of basement membrane proteins, homologs of perlecan, that are important for body wall muscle assembly and attachment to basement membrane, hypodermis and cuticle. We have cloned mec-8 and found that it encodes a protein with two RNA recognition motifs, characteristic of RNA binding proteins. We have used reverse transcription-PCR and RNase protection experiments to show that mec-8 regulates the accumulation of a specific subset of alternatively spliced unc-52 transcripts. We have also shown with antibodies to UNC-52 that mec-8 affects the abundance of a subset of UNC-52 isoforms. We propose that mec-8 encodes a trans-acting factor that regulates the alternative splicing of the pre-mRNA of unc-52 and one or more additional genes that affect mechanosensory and chemosensory neuron function.
Keywords: *Alternative Splicing; Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Binding Sites; Caenorhabditis elegans/*genetics; *Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins; Cloning, Molecular; Gene Expression Regulation; *Genes, Helminth; Helminth Proteins/biosynthesis/*genetics/metabolism; *Membrane Proteins; Models, Genetic; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Phenotype; Proteoglycans/biosynthesis/*genetics; RNA, Helminth/metabolism; RNA, Messenger/metabolism; RNA-Binding Proteins/*genetics/metabolism; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Transformation, Genetic|
Journal: Development (Cambridge, England) Volume: 122 Issue: 5 Pages: 1601-10 Date: May 1, 1996 PMID: 8625846 |
Lundquist EA, Herman RK, Rogalski TM, Mullen GP, Moerman DG, Shaw JE (1996) The mec-8 gene of C. elegans encodes a protein with two RNA recognition motifs and regulates alternative splicing of unc-52 transcripts. Development (Cambridge, England) 122: 1601-10.
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