Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

Gene

Public Gene Name

lin-39  

Sequence Name

C07H6.7  

WB ID

WBGene00003024  

Description

lin-39 encodes a homeodomain protein homologous to the Deformed and Sex combs reduced family of homeodomain proteins; lin-39 is required cell autonomously for specification of mid-body region cell fates, including those of the VC neurons and the vulval precursor cells (VPCs), during postembryonic development; lin-39 activity is also required for normal migration of the QR, and to a lesser extent QL, neuroblasts and their descendants; in regions of the body where lin-39 expression overlaps with that of mab-5, another C. elegans HOM-C gene, the two genes appear to either compensate for one another's activity or act combinatorially to promote cell fates distinct from those where either gene is expressed alone; lin-39 transcripts are detected at all development stages, and a lin-39:lacZ reporter fusion is expressed in cells of the central body region, including ventral cord neurons and ventral epidermal cells, from mid-embryogenesis through larval and adult stages.