Skip to main content
PMC home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1990 Oct 25;18(20):6101–6106. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.20.6101

Homeobox containing genes in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans.

N C Hawkins 1, J D McGhee 1
PMCID: PMC332412  PMID: 1978282

Abstract

We designed a unique 36-mer oligonucleotide probe, based on the most highly conserved amino acid sequences of Antennapedia-like homeodomains and the codon bias of Caenorhabditis elegans. This probe was then used to isolate four classes of genes from a C. elegans genomic library. Sequencing reveals that we have isolated three new homeobox genes, designated ceh-1, ceh-9 and ceh-10. The fourth homeobox gene, ceh-11, has recently been described by Schaller et al (Nucleic Acids Res. 18, 2033-2036). The amino acid sequence of ceh-1 is 87% similar to the honeybee H40 homeodomain, 85% similar to the Drosophila NK-1 homeodomain and 82% similar to the chicken CHox3 homeodomain. The sequence ceh-10 appears to be a member of the paired class of homeodomains. The other two sequences, ceh-9 and ceh-11, remain unclassified. Three of the four sequences have at least one intron within the homeobox region. Transcripts of ceh-10 and ceh-11 are present in embryonic RNA but are greatly diminished in later developmental stages. Three of the four new genes have been placed on the C. elegans genomic map.

Full text

PDF

Images in this article

6102Image
on p.6102
6105Image
on p.6105

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baumgartner S., Bopp D., Burri M., Noll M. Structure of two genes at the gooseberry locus related to the paired gene and their spatial expression during Drosophila embryogenesis. Genes Dev. 1987 Dec;1(10):1247–1267. doi: 10.1101/gad.1.10.1247. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Boissy R., Astell C. R. An Escherichia coli recBCsbcBrecF host permits the deletion-resistant propagation of plasmid clones containing the 5'-terminal palindrome of minute virus of mice. Gene. 1985;35(1-2):179–185. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(85)90170-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bopp D., Burri M., Baumgartner S., Frigerio G., Noll M. Conservation of a large protein domain in the segmentation gene paired and in functionally related genes of Drosophila. Cell. 1986 Dec 26;47(6):1033–1040. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90818-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brenner S. The genetics of Caenorhabditis elegans. Genetics. 1974 May;77(1):71–94. doi: 10.1093/genetics/77.1.71. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bürglin T. R., Finney M., Coulson A., Ruvkun G. Caenorhabditis elegans has scores of homoeobox-containing genes. Nature. 1989 Sep 21;341(6239):239–243. doi: 10.1038/341239a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Costa M., Weir M., Coulson A., Sulston J., Kenyon C. Posterior pattern formation in C. elegans involves position-specific expression of a gene containing a homeobox. Cell. 1988 Dec 2;55(5):747–756. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90131-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Coulson A., Sulston J., Brenner S., Karn J. Toward a physical map of the genome of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Oct;83(20):7821–7825. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.20.7821. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Coulson A., Waterston R., Kiff J., Sulston J., Kohara Y. Genome linking with yeast artificial chromosomes. Nature. 1988 Sep 8;335(6186):184–186. doi: 10.1038/335184a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Desai C., Garriga G., McIntire S. L., Horvitz H. R. A genetic pathway for the development of the Caenorhabditis elegans HSN motor neurons. Nature. 1988 Dec 15;336(6200):638–646. doi: 10.1038/336638a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Finney M., Ruvkun G., Horvitz H. R. The C. elegans cell lineage and differentiation gene unc-86 encodes a protein with a homeodomain and extended similarity to transcription factors. Cell. 1988 Dec 2;55(5):757–769. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90132-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Freyd G., Kim S. K., Horvitz H. R. Novel cysteine-rich motif and homeodomain in the product of the Caenorhabditis elegans cell lineage gene lin-11. Nature. 1990 Apr 26;344(6269):876–879. doi: 10.1038/344876a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Frigerio G., Burri M., Bopp D., Baumgartner S., Noll M. Structure of the segmentation gene paired and the Drosophila PRD gene set as part of a gene network. Cell. 1986 Dec 5;47(5):735–746. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90516-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Henikoff S. Unidirectional digestion with exonuclease III in DNA sequence analysis. Methods Enzymol. 1987;155:156–165. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)55014-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hodgson C. P., Fisk R. Z. Hybridization probe size control: optimized 'oligolabelling'. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Aug 11;15(15):6295–6295. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.15.6295. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Johnson P. F., McKnight S. L. Eukaryotic transcriptional regulatory proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1989;58:799–839. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.58.070189.004055. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kamb A., Weir M., Rudy B., Varmus H., Kenyon C. Identification of genes from pattern formation, tyrosine kinase, and potassium channel families by DNA amplification. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Jun;86(12):4372–4376. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.12.4372. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kim Y., Nirenberg M. Drosophila NK-homeobox genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Oct;86(20):7716–7720. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.20.7716. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Lal A. A., de la Cruz V. F., Collins W. E., Campbell G. H., Procell P. M., McCutchan T. F. Circumsporozoite protein gene from Plasmodium brasilianum. Animal reservoirs for human malaria parasites? J Biol Chem. 1988 Apr 25;263(12):5495–5498. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Okayama H., Kawaichi M., Brownstein M., Lee F., Yokota T., Arai K. High-efficiency cloning of full-length cDNA; construction and screening of cDNA expression libraries for mammalian cells. Methods Enzymol. 1987;154:3–28. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)54067-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Qian Y. Q., Billeter M., Otting G., Müller M., Gehring W. J., Wüthrich K. The structure of the Antennapedia homeodomain determined by NMR spectroscopy in solution: comparison with prokaryotic repressors. Cell. 1989 Nov 3;59(3):573–580. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90040-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Rangini Z., Frumkin A., Shani G., Guttmann M., Eyal-Giladi H., Gruenbaum Y., Fainsod A. The chicken homeo box genes CHox1 and CHox3: cloning, sequencing and expression during embryogenesis. Gene. 1989 Mar 15;76(1):61–74. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(89)90008-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Reed K. C., Mann D. A. Rapid transfer of DNA from agarose gels to nylon membranes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1985 Oct 25;13(20):7207–7221. doi: 10.1093/nar/13.20.7207. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Rosa F. M. Mix.1, a homeobox mRNA inducible by mesoderm inducers, is expressed mostly in the presumptive endodermal cells of Xenopus embryos. Cell. 1989 Jun 16;57(6):965–974. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90335-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Schaller D., Wittmann C., Spicher A., Müller F., Tobler H. Cloning and analysis of three new homeobox genes from the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Apr 25;18(8):2033–2036. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.8.2033. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Scott M. P., Tamkun J. W., Hartzell G. W., 3rd The structure and function of the homeodomain. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1989 Jul 28;989(1):25–48. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(89)90033-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Walldorf U., Fleig R., Gehring W. J. Comparison of homeobox-containing genes of the honeybee and Drosophila. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Dec;86(24):9971–9975. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.24.9971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Way J. C., Chalfie M. mec-3, a homeobox-containing gene that specifies differentiation of the touch receptor neurons in C. elegans. Cell. 1988 Jul 1;54(1):5–16. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90174-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES