Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

acy-2 encodes an adenylyl cyclase; an intragenic deletion of acy-2 is lethal at the first larval stage of development; the terminal phenotype resembles that seen in loss-of-function gsa-1 mutants.

an ortholog of calcium-dependent serine endoproteinases, the kex2/subtilisin-like proprotein convertase that affects defecation cycle and anterior body contractions; and is expressed in all muscle cells except pharyngeal muscles.

age-1 encodes the C. elegans ortholog of the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) p110 catalytic subunit; AGE-1, supplied maternally and embryonically, is a central component of the C. elegans insulin-like signaling pathway, lying downstream of the DAF-2/insulin receptor and upstream of both the PDK-1 and AKT-1/AKT-2 kinases and the DAF-16 forkhead type transcription factor, whose negative regulation is the key output of the insulin signaling pathway; in accordance with its role in insulin signaling, AGE-1 activity is required for regulation of metabolism, life span, dauer formation, stress resistance, salt chemotaxis learning, fertility, and embryonic development; although the age-1 expression pattern has not yet been reported, ectopic expression studies indicate that pan-neuronal age-1 expression is sufficient to rescue life-span defects, while neuronal, intestinal, or muscle expression can partially rescue dauer formation, and neuronal or muscle expression can rescue metabolic defects.

agt-2 encodes a paralog of the DNA repair enzyme O6-Alkylguanine DNA-alkyltransferase (AGT); AGT-2 has AGT biochemical activity and is expressed at all developmental stages.

aip-1 encodes an AN-1-like zinc finger-containing protein homologous to arsenite-inducible RNA-associated protein (AIRAP), conserved among C. elegans, Drosophila, and mammals; like AIRAP itself, AIP-1 protects cells from arsenite toxicity; AIP-1 is a predicted RNA binding protein that may function in ubiquitin-mediated proteolysis following aresenite treatment; AIP-1 does not appear to be essential for viability, but is expressed at high levels in hypodermal and intestinal cells following such treatment.

alh-1 is orthologous to the human gene ALDEHYDE DEHYDROGENASE 2, MITOCHONDRIAL (ALDH2; OMIM:100650), in which a polymorphism can lead to acute ethanol intolerance.

alx-1 encodes one of two C. elegans Bro1 domain-containing proteins; during development, ALX-1 functions in the regulation of protein trafficking via endocytic recycling of clathrin-independent cargo and membrane-protein degradation; ALX-1 physically interacts with RME-1, a component of recycling endosomes that regulates endocytic recycling of receptor proteins, and LIN-12/Notch whose downregulation, but not internalization, in primary vulval precursor cells requires ALX-1; alx-1 interacts genetically with ego-2, which encodes the second C. elegans Bro1 domain-containing protein, in a manner that suggests ALX-1 and EGO-2 function both agonistically and antagostically to regulate specific developmental processes; an ALX-1::GFP fusion protein is expressed ubiquitously at high levels and localizes to two types of endocytic organelles: the HGRS-1-positive multivesicular endosome and the RME-1-positive recycling endosome.