{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,3]],"date-time":"2026-06-03T14:37:20Z","timestamp":1780497440316,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":38,"publisher":"The Company of Biologists","issue":"22","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2002,11,15]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Development of the vulva in C. elegans is mediated by the combinatorial action of several convergent regulatory inputs, three of which,the Ras, Wnt and Rb-related pathways, act by regulating expression of thelin-39 Hox gene. LIN-39 specifies cell fates and regulates cell fusion in the mid-body region, leading to formation of the vulva. In the lateral seam epidermis, differentiation and cell fusion have been shown to be regulated by two GATA-type transcription factors, ELT-5 and -6. We report that ELT-5 is encoded by the egl-18 gene, which was previously shown to promote formation of a functional vulva. Furthermore, we find that EGL-18(ELT-5), and its paralogue ELT-6, are redundantly required to regulate cell fates and fusion in the vulval primordium and are essential to form a vulva. Elimination of egl-18 and elt-6 activity results in arrest by the first larval stage; however, in animals rescued for this larval lethality by expression of ELT-6 in non-vulval cells, the post-embryonic cells(P3.p-P8.p) that normally become vulval precursor cells often fuse with the surrounding epidermal syncytium or undergo fewer than normal cell divisions,reminiscent of lin-39 mutants. Moreover, egl-18\/elt-6reporter gene expression in the developing vulva is attenuated inlin-39(rf) mutants, and overexpression of egl-18 can partially rescue the vulval defects caused by reduced lin-39activity. LIN-39\/CEH-20 heterodimers bind two consensus HOX\/PBC sites in a vulval enhancer region of egl-18\/elt-6, one of which is essential for vulval expression of egl-18\/elt-6 reporter constructs. These findings demonstrate that the EGL-18 and ELT-6 GATA factors are essential, genetically redundant regulators of cell fates and fusion in the developing vulva and are apparent direct transcriptional targets of the LIN-39 Hox protein.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1242\/dev.129.22.5171","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,4,26]],"date-time":"2021-04-26T14:50:09Z","timestamp":1619448609000},"page":"5171-5180","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":60,"title":["Cell fates and fusion in the<i>C. elegans<\/i>vulval primordium are regulated by the EGL-18 and ELT-6 GATA factors \u2014 apparent direct targets of the LIN-39 Hox protein"],"prefix":"10.1242","volume":"129","author":[{"given":"Kyunghee","family":"Koh","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA"},{"name":"Present address: Department of Genetics, University of Pennsylvania,Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sara M.","family":"Peyrot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County,Baltimore, MD 21250, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Cricket G.","family":"Wood","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Javier A.","family":"Wagmaister","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County,Baltimore, MD 21250, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Morris F.","family":"Maduro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David M.","family":"Eisenmann","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Baltimore County,Baltimore, MD 21250, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joel H.","family":"Rothman","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"237","reference":[{"key":"2021042611414883900_REF1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Artavanis-Tsakonas, S., Matsuno, K. and Fortini, M. 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