Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

Gene

Public Gene Name

abl-1  

Sequence Name

M79.1  

WB ID

WBGene00000018  

Description

abl-1 encodes, by alternative splicing, three isoforms of a Src homology (SH) 2 and 3 domain-containing non-receptor tyrosine kinase orthologous to human ABL1 (OMIM:189980, mutated in chronic myeloid leukemia) and ABL2 (OMIM:164690); ABL-1 inhibits germline apoptosis induced by radiation or by natural aging, but it has no effect on apoptosis induced by starvation or by chemical mutagens (ethylnitrosourea, ethylmethanesulfonate, cisplatin, etoposide), or on constitutive ('physiological') germline apoptosis; at the same time, ABL-1 is required for germline apoptosis induced by oxidative, osmotic or heat-shock stress, and is also required for pathogenesis by Shigella flexneri infecting the intestine; ABL-1-inhibited apoptosis is confined to a single gonad arm undergoing radiation, having no nonautonomous effect on the unirradiated arm; abl-1 is expressed in the germline, in most or all cells of early embryos, and in postembryonic pharynx, tail ganglia and ventral nerve cord; abl-1(ok171) mutants are hypersensitive to germline apoptosis and resistant to S. flexneri infection; both abl-1(ok171) phenotypes are phenocopied by c-ABL inhibitors such as STI-571 (Gleevec); ABL-1-inhibited apoptosis requires active CED-3 and EGL-1, inactive CED-9, and active AKT-1, CEP-1, CLK-1, HUS-1, and MRT-2; abl-1(ok171) has no effect on somatic apoptosis, and abl-1(ok171) mutants are generally normal; abl-1 transcripts are enriched in cultured unc-4::GFP neurons.