Functional analysis of conserved <i>C. elegans</i> bHLH family members uncovers lifespan control by a peptidergic hub neuron.

ABSTRACT: Throughout the animal kingdom, several members of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family act as proneural genes during early steps of nervous system development. Roles of bHLH genes in specifying terminal differentiation of postmitotic neurons have been less extensively studied. We analyze here the function of five C. elegans bHLH genes, falling into three phylogenetically conserved subfamilies, which are continuously expressed in a very small number of postmitotic neurons in the central nervous system. We show (a) that two orthologs of the vertebrate bHLHb4/b5 genes, called hlh-17 and hlh-32, function redundantly to specify the identity of a single head interneuron (AUA), as well as an individual motor neuron (VB2), (b) that the PTF1a ortholog hlh-13 a

SUBMITTER: Aguilar GR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11275782 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature