Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

Gene

Public Gene Name

mcd-1  

Sequence Name

Y51H1A.6  

WB ID

WBGene00013096  

Description

mcd-1 encodes a highly acidic C2H2-type zinc-finger protein that, in conjunction with LIN-35/Rb, DPL-1/DP, EFL-1/E2F, LIN-37/Mip40, and LIN-52, promotes the developmentally programmed progression of cells through full apoptosis; MCD-1 can promote ectopic apoptosis in cells normally fated to live, and is thus active in such cells; MCD-1 is not required for CED-3-independent cell death, does not regulate CED-9, and probably does not transcriptionally regulate egl-1; MCD-1 and its partners do not act together with CED-1 or CED-8, and their function in cell death is distinct from the LET-60/RAS or SynMuv pathways; however, MCD-1 is redundantly required with some class B/C synMuv proteins for viability (LIN-9, LIN-35/Rb, or LIN-37/Mip40) and normally rapid growth (DPL-1/DP, LIN-13, LIN-53, LIN-54, or MYS-1); in mcd-1(n4005) animals, cells that would normally undergo apoptosis can instead pass through an episode of pre-apoptotic condensation, after which they sometimes revert to normal shape, survive, and differentiate; MCD-1 contains an N-terminal low-complexity region and a single central zinc-finger, but no other recognizable protein domains; MCD-1 is paralogous to Y48E1B.7, but has no obvious non-nematode orthologs.