MicroRNAs acting in a double-negative feedback loop to control a neuronal cell fate decision.

ABSTRACT: The elucidation of the architecture of gene regulatory networks that control cell-type specific gene expression programs represents a major challenge in developmental biology. We describe here a cell fate decision between two alternative neuronal fates and the architecture of a gene regulatory network that controls this cell fate decision. The two Caenorhabditis elegans taste receptor neurons "ASE left" (ASEL) and "ASE right" (ASER) share many bilaterally symmetric features, but each cell expresses a distinct set of chemoreceptors that endow the gustatory system with the capacity to sense and discriminate specific environmental inputs. We show that these left/right asymmetric fates develop from a precursor state in which both ASE neurons express equivalent features. This hybrid precursor s

SUBMITTER: Johnston RJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1194938 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature