Fog-1, a Regulatory Gene Required for Specification of Spermatogenesis in the Germ Line of Caenorhabditis Elegans

AUTOR(ES)

Barton, M. K.

RESUMO

In wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans, the XO male germ line makes only sperm and the XX hermaphrodite germ line makes sperm and then oocytes. In contrast, the germ line of either a male or a hermaphrodite carrying a mutation of the fog-1 (feminization of the germ line) locus is sexually transformed: cells that would normally make sperm differentiate as oocytes. However, the somatic tissues of fog-1 mutants remain unaffected. All fog-1 alleles identified confer the same phenotype. The fog-1 mutations appear to reduce fog-1 function, indicating that the wild-type fog-1 product is required for specification of a germ cell as a spermatocyte. Two lines of evidence indicate that a germ cell is determined for sex at about the same time that it enters meiosis. These include the fog-1 temperature sensitive period, which coincides in each sex with first entry into meiosis, and the phenotype of a fog-1; glp-1 double mutant. Experiments with double mutants show that fog-1 is epistatic to mutations in all other sex-determining genes tested. These results lead to the conclusion that fog-1 acts at the same level as the fem genes at the end of the sex determination pathway to specify germ cells as sperm.

Documentos Relacionados

• Fog-2, a Germ-Line-Specific Sex Determination Gene Required for Hermaphrodite Spermatogenesis in Caenorhabditis Elegans
• The Fog-3 Gene and Regulation of Cell Fate in the Germ Line of Caenorhabditis Elegans
• The Mog-1 Gene Is Required for the Switch from Spermatogenesis to Oogenesis in Caenorhabditis Elegans
• Glp-3 Is Required for Mitosis and Meiosis in the Caenorhabditis Elegans Germ Line
• Identification of Grandchildless Loci Whose Products Are Required for Normal Germ-Line Development in the Nematode Caenorhabditis Elegans