Dominant gain-of-function mutations that lead to misregulation of the C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-14, and the evolutionary implications of dominant mutations in pattern-formation genes.

Abstract excerpt

The heterochronic gene lin-14 controls the temporal sequence of developmental events in the C. elegans postembryonic cell lineage. It encodes a nuclear protein that is normally present in most somatic cells of late embryos and L1 larvae but not in later larval stages or adults. Two lin-14 gain-of-function mutations cause an inappropriately high level of the lin-14 nuclear protein late in development. These...

Topics

• Animals
• Biological Evolution
• Caenorhabditis
• Cell Differentiation
• Gene Expression Regulation
• Genes, Dominant
• Models, Genetic
• Morphogenesis
• Mutation
• Nuclear Proteins