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The Caenorhabditis elegans lin-12 gene encodes a transmembrane protein with overall similarity to Drosophila Notch

Nature volume 335, pages 547–550 (1988)Cite this article

Abstract

The lin-12 gene seems to control certain binary decisions during Caenorhabditis elegans development, from genetic and anatomical studies of lin-12 mutants that have either elevated or reduced levels of lin-12 activity1. We report here the complete DNA sequence of lin-12:13.5 kilobases (kb) derived from genomic clones and 4.5 kb from complementary DNA clones. It is of interest that the predicted product is a putative transmembrane protein, given that many of the decisions controlled by lin-12 activity require cell-cell interactions for the correct choice of cell fate2–5. In addition, the predicted lin-12 product may be classified into several regions, based on amino acid sequence similarities to other proteins. These include extensive overall sequence similarity to the Drosophila Notch protein6,7, which also is involved in cell-cell interactions that specify cell fate6–8; a repeated motif found9 in proteins encoded by the yeast cell-cycle control genes cdc10 (Schizosaccharomyces pombe)10 and SWI6 ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae)9; and a repeated motif exemplified by epidermal growth factor, found in many mammalian proteins11.

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Author notes

  1. Kathleen Weston

    Present address: Hooper Foundation, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

  2. Kathleen Weston: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Hills Road, Cambridge CB2 2QH, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

    John Yochem, Kathleen Weston & Iva Greenwald

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Yochem, J., Weston, K. & Greenwald, I. The Caenorhabditis elegans lin-12 gene encodes a transmembrane protein with overall similarity to Drosophila Notch. Nature 335, 547–550 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/335547a0

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