Elsevier

Developmental Biology

Volume 206, Issue 2, 15 February 1999, Pages 142-156
Developmental Biology

Regular Article
The LIN-29 Transcription Factor Is Required for Proper Morphogenesis of theCaenorhabditis elegansMale Tail

https://doi.org/10.1006/dbio.1998.9063Get rights and content
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Abstract

TheCaenorhabditis elegansgenelin-29encodes a zinc-finger transcription factor that is required for hypodermal cell terminal differentiation and proper vulva morphogenesis. Here we demonstrate thatlin-29is also required in males for productive mating. We show thatlin-29males can perform the early mating behaviors including response to hermaphrodite contact and vulva location, but they do not perform the subsequent steps of vulva attachment via spicule insertion and sperm transfer. Consistent with this observation, we found thatlin-29mutant spicules are on average 43% shorter than wild-type spicules while other male mating structures appear unaltered. Inlin-29mutants, spicule development goes awry after the generation of spicule cells, when spicule morphogenesis occurs in wild-type males. We show that LIN-29 accumulates in many cells of the wild-type male tail, including those that form the spicules. We demonstrate, through analysis of genetic mosaics, that the formation of wild-type-length spicules requireslin-29(+)in the AB.p lineage, the lineage that gives rise to the spicules and other male copulatory structures. Our mosaic analysis also reveals a role forlin-29(+)in the P1 lineage, which mainly produces sex muscles, cells of the somatic gonad, and body wall muscles.

Cited by (0)

D. L. RiddleT. BlumenthalB. J. MeyerJ. R. Priess

1

Present address: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, NCEA, Mail Code 8623-D, 401 M St. SW, Washington, DC 20460.

2

The first two authors contributed equally to this work.

3

To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Genetics and Cell Biology, University of Minnesota, 250 BioScience Center, 1445 Gortner Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55108. Fax: (612) 625-5754. E-mail:[email protected].