Widespread employment of conserved C. elegans homeobox genes in neuronal identity specification.

ABSTRACT: Homeobox genes are prominent regulators of neuronal identity, but the extent to which their function has been probed in animal nervous systems remains limited. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, each individual neuron class is defined by the expression of unique combinations of homeobox genes, prompting the question of whether each neuron class indeed requires a homeobox gene for its proper identity specification. We present here progress in addressing this question by extending previous mutant analysis of homeobox gene family members and describing multiple examples of homeobox gene function in different parts of the C. elegans nervous system. To probe homeobox function, we make use of a number of reporter gene tools, including a novel multicolor reporter transgene, NeuroPAL, which p

SUBMITTER: Reilly MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9524666 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature