Influences of LIN-12/Notch and POP-1/TCF on the Robustness of Ventral Uterine Cell Fate Specification in Caenorhabditis elegans Gonadogenesis

摘要

The prospective ventral uterus of the hermaphrodite gonad primordium consists of two pairs of sister cells, with each pair consisting of a proximal “α” cell and a distal “β” cell. All four cells initially are competent to become the anchor cell (AC), a unique cell type that acts as the organizer of subsequent uterine and vulval development. However, the β cells soon lose this competence and always become ventral uterine precursor cells (VUs), whereas the α cells maintain their AC competence longer, until /Notch-mediated interactions between them specify one as the AC and the other as a VU. Here, we investigate this asymmetry in developmental potential and VU fate specification between the α and β sister cells. We find evidence that activity contributes to the robustness of βVU fate at elevated temperature, that the Caenorhabditis elegans Notch paralog is not functionally redundant with in specifying βVU fate, and that the activity of , the sole C. elegans TCF ortholog, influences βVU fate. We propose a model for how Wnt and /Notch signaling together lead to robust specification of the βVU fate.