Abstract
The fan and rays of the C. elegans male tail constitute a compound sensory organ essential for mating. Within this organ, the individual sensilla, known as rays, have unique identities. We show that ray identities are patterned by a selector gene mechanism in a manner similar to other serially homologous axial structures. One selector gene that promotes the identities of a subset of the rays is the Hox gene egl-5. Within EGL-5-expressing rays, further patterning is provided by a Pax-6 homolog and a signal of the TGFβ family. These genes and pathway coordinately specify multiple ray properties affecting all three terminal ray cell types. These properties include complex patterns of FMRFamide-like (FaRP) neuropeptides, serotonin (5HT) and dopamine expression, and ray morphology. Differences in these differentiated characteristics give each sensillum a unique identity and potentially endow the compound ray organ with a higher-order information gathering capacity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 137-151 |
Number of pages | 15 |
Journal | Developmental Biology |
Volume | 269 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 1 2004 |
Keywords
- C. elegans
- Derotonin
- Dopamine
- FMRFamide
- Hox
- Male
- Neuron subtype
- Neurotransmitter
- Pax-6
- TGFβ
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Cell Biology