1,170 research outputs found
Synthetic lethal analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans posterior embryonic patterning genes identifies conserved genetic interactions
Phenotypic robustness is evidenced when single-gene mutations do not result in an obvious phenotype. It has been suggested that such phenotypic stability results from 'buffering' activities of homologous genes as well as non-homologous genes acting in parallel pathways. One approach to characterizing mechanisms of phenotypic robustness is to identify genetic interactions, specifically, double mutants where buffering is compromised. To identify interactions among genes implicated in posterior patterning of the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, we measured synthetic lethality following RNA interference of 22 genes in 15 mutant strains. A pair of homologous T-box transcription factors (tbx-8 and tbx-9) is found to interact in both C. elegans and C. briggsae, indicating that their compensatory function is conserved. Furthermore, a muscle module is defined by transitive interactions between the MyoD homolog hlh-1, another basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, hnd-1, and the MADS-box transcription factor unc-120. Genetic interactions within a homologous set of genes involved in vertebrate myogenesis indicate broad conservation of the muscle module and suggest that other genetic modules identified in C. elegans will be conserved
The homeodomain protein PAL-1 specifies a lineage-specific regulatory network in the C. elegans embryo
Maternal and zygotic activities of the homeodomain protein PAL-1 specify the identity and maintain the development of the multipotent C blastomere lineage in the C. elegans embryo. To identify PAL-1 regulatory target genes, we used microarrays to compare transcript abundance in wild-type embryos with mutant embryos lacking a C blastomere and to mutant embryos with extra C blastomeres. pal-1-dependent C-lineage expression was verified for select candidate target genes by reporter gene analysis, though many of the target genes are expressed in additional lineages as well. The set of validated target genes includes 12 transcription factors, an uncharacterized wingless ligand and five uncharacterized genes. Phenotypic analysis demonstrates that the identified PAL-1 target genes affect specification, differentiation and morphogenesis of C-lineage cells. In particular, we show that cell fate-specific genes (or tissue identity genes) and a posterior HOX gene are activated in lineage-specific fashion. Transcription of targets is initiated in four temporal phases, which together with their spatial expression patterns leads to a model of the regulatory network specified by PAL-1
Color Gradients in Early-Type Galaxies in Clusters at the Redshift from 0.37 to 0.56
Color gradients in elliptical galaxies in distant clusters ()
are examined by using the archival deep imaging data of Wide Field Planetary
Camera 2 (WFPC2) on-board the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Obtained color
gradients are compared with the two model gradients to examine the origin of
the color gradients. In one model, a color gradient is assumed to be caused by
a metallicity gradient of stellar populations, while in the other one, it is
caused by an age gradient. Both of these model color gradients reproduce the
average color gradient seen in nearby ellipticals, but predict significantly
different gradients at a redshift larger than 0.3. Comparison between the
observed gradients and the model gradients reveals that the metallicity
gradient is much more favorable as the primary origin of color gradients in
elliptical galaxies in clusters. The same conclusion has been obtained for
field ellipticals by using those at the redshift from 0.1 to 1.0 in the Hubble
Deep Field-North by Tamura et al. (2000). Thus, it is also suggested that the
primary origin of the color gradients in elliptical galaxies does not depend on
galaxy environment.Comment: 23 pages LaTeX, 5 PostScript figures, accepted for publication in The
Astronomical Journa
Numerical Analyses of Weakly Nonlinear Velocity-Density Coupling
We study evolution of various statistical quantities of smoothed cosmic
density and velocity fields using N-body simulations. The parameter
characterizes nonlinear coupling of
these two fields and determines behavior of bulk velocity dispersion as a
function of local density contrast.
It is found that this parameter depends strongly on the smoothing scale even
in quasi-linear regimes where the skewness parameter
is nearly constant and close to the predicted value by the second-order
perturbation theory. We also analyze weakly nonlinear effects caused by an
adaptive smoothing known as the gather approach.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures, to appear in ApJ (558, Sep 10
Recommended from our members
Synthetic Lethal Analysis of Caenorhabditis elegans Posterior Embryonic Patterning Genes Identifies Conserved Genetic Interactions
Phenotypic robustness is evidenced when single-gene mutations do not result in an obvious phenotype. It has been suggested that such phenotypic stability results from 'buffering' activities of homologous genes as well as non-homologous genes acting in parallel pathways. One approach to characterizing mechanisms of phenotypic robustness is to identify genetic interactions, specifically, double mutants where buffering is compromised. To identify interactions among genes implicated in posterior patterning of the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo, we measured synthetic lethality following RNA interference of 22 genes in 15 mutant strains. A pair of homologous T-box transcription factors (tbx-8 and tbx-9) is found to interact in both C. elegans and C. briggsae, indicating that their compensatory function is conserved. Furthermore, a muscle module is defined by transitive interactions between the MyoD homolog hlh-1, another basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor, hnd-1, and the MADS-box transcription factor unc-120. Genetic interactions within a homologous set of genes involved in vertebrate myogenesis indicate broad conservation of the muscle module and suggest that other genetic modules identified in C. elegans will be conserved.Molecular and Cellular Biolog
- ā¦