The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-4 encodes small RNAs with antisense complementarity to lin-14

RC Lee, RL Feinbaum, V Ambros - cell, 1993 - cell.com
RC Lee, RL Feinbaum, V Ambros
cell, 1993cell.com
Summary h-4 is essential for the normal temporal control of diverse postembryonic
developmental events in C. elegans./in-4 acts by negatively regulating the level of LIN-14
protein, creating a temporal decrease in LIN-14 protein starting in the first larval stage (Ll).
We have cloned the C. elegans lin-4 locus by chromosomal walking and transformation
rescue. We used the C. elegans clone to isolate the gene from three other Caenorhabditis
species; all four Caenorhabditis clones functionally rescue the h-4 null allele of C. elegans …
Summary h-4 is essential for the normal temporal control of diverse postembryonic developmental events in C. elegans./in-4 acts by negatively regulating the level of LIN-14 protein, creating a temporal decrease in LIN-14 protein starting in the first larval stage (Ll). We have cloned the C. elegans lin-4 locus by chromosomal walking and transformation rescue. We used the C. elegans clone to isolate the gene from three other Caenorhabditis species; all four Caenorhabditis clones functionally rescue the h-4 null allele of C. elegans. Comparison of the/in-4 genomic sequence from these four species and site-directed mutagenesis of potential open reading frames indicated that/in-d does not encode a protein. Two small/in-4 transcripts of approximately 22 and 61 nt were identified in C. elegans and found to contain sequences complementary to a repeated sequence element in the 3’untranslated region (UTR) of lin-74 mRNA, suggesting that/in-4 regulates h-74 translation via an antisense RNA-RNA interaction.
cell.com