Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

lpd-5 is orthologous to the human gene NADH DEHYDROGENASE (UBIQUINONE) FE-S PROTEIN 4 (18KD) (NADH-COENZYME Q REDUCTASE) (NDUFS4; OMIM:602694), which when mutated leads to NADH:ubiquinone oxidoreductase (complex I) deficiency.

lov-1 encodes an ortholog of human PKD1 (OMIM:601313; mutated in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease) that is expressed in the ciliated sensory endings of three types of male-specific neurons and that is required for two aspects of male mating behavior: response to hermaphrodite contact and vulva location; LOV-1 acts with PKD-2; EGL-44 and EGL-46 regulate cell-specific expression of lov-1 and pkd-2 to specify the behavioral function of the HOB neuron; in vitro, LOV-1 interacts, via its conserved PLAT domain, with the N-terminus of ATP-2, the beta subunit of ATP synthase that also localizes to cilia, suggesting that ATP synthase may play a role in C. elegans polycystin signaling.

gap-2 encodes a Ras GTPase-activating protein (RasGAP) that is orthologous to mammalian nGAP and synGAP (OMIM:606136, OMIM:603384, synGAP is essential for postnatal survival and neuronal development); by homology, GAP-2 is predicted to function as a negative regulator of Ras signaling by enhancing the intrinsically weak Ras GTPase activity; gap-2 loss-of-function mutations partially suppress the larval lethality of let-23 and let-60 loss-of-function mutations, supporting a role for gap-2 in negative regulation of Ras signaling in vivo; gap-2 can encode at least eight different isoforms that appear to be expressed in a wide variety of tissues including the vulva, gonad, pharynx, neurons, and blast/rectal cells of the tail.