Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

tpa-1 encodes two protein kinase C isoforms, TPA-1A and TPA-1B; analysis of tpa-1 mutations indicates that at least one TPA-1 isoform plays a role in nicotine-induced adaptation and that both isoforms appear to play a role in gpa-12/G protein-mediated signaling that modulates feeding and growth.

csn-5 encodes an ortholog of subunit 5 of the COP9 signalosome complex (CSN5), which in turn is a pan-eukaryotic multiprotein complex that positively regulates E3 ubiquitin ligases, physically interacts with SCF-type E3 ubiquitin ligases, and probably regulates protein degradation; CSN-5 (along with KGB-1 and ZYX-1) physically binds germline RNA helicases (GLH proteins), and csn-5(RNAi) results in sterile worms with small gonads and no oocytes, causing oogenesis to cease, but not affecting the initial assembly of P granules -- a defect essentially identical to that produced by RNAi with a combination of glh-1 and glh-4.

hil-7 encodes a histone H1.1 isoform that is required in the germline for chromatin silencing (assayed by silencing of transgenic DNA), for proliferation and differentiation, and for fertility; hil-7(RNAi) phenotypes resemble the Mes phenotype resulting from the desilencing of genes required for somatic differentiation in the germline; HIL-7 is required in both the hermaphrodite and the male germlines, and is ubiquitously expressed in all nuclei (somatic and germline).