Transcription regulatory networks in Caenorhabditis elegans

Gene

Public Gene Name

tbx-2  

Sequence Name

F21H11.3  

WB ID

WBGene00006543  

Description

tbx-2 encodes one of 21 C. elegans T-box transcription factors; during development, tbx-2 activity is required for normal adaptation, but not chemotaxis, to attractive odorants sensed by the AWC amphid neurons; tbx-2 is required redundantly with unc-3 and unc-31 for negative regulation of dauer formation, and large-scale RNAi screens reveal an essential role for tbx-2 in early larval development, normal rates of postembryonic growth, and locomotory behavior; tbx-2 is also required along with pha-4 for embryonic precursor cells to adopt a pharyngeal muscle fate; TBX-2 and PHA-4 are mutually dependant on each other to maintain expression implicating them in a regulatory loop that controls commitment to the pharyngeal muscle fate; yeast two-hybrid assays have identified that TBX-2 interacts with UBC-9 (E2 SUMO conjugating enzyme) and GEI-17 (E3 SUMO ligase); based on the two-hybrid interaction and the similar pharyngeal muscle phenotype of ubc-9, it is likely that protein sumoylation is required for precursor-cell derived pharyngeal muscle development; antibodies to TBX-2 detect expression in the cytoplasm of amphid and pharyngeal neurons in larvae and adults, suggesting that TBX-2 function may be controlled, in part, by regulation of its subcellular localization; in addition, in situ hybridization studies indicate that tbx-2 mRNA is expressed during mid-embryogenesis; tbx-2 expression in the AWC amphid neurons is sufficient to rescue the olfactory adaptation defects seen in tbx-2 mutant animals.