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Free keywords:
Alleles
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Base Sequence
Caenorhabditis elegans/embryology/*genetics
*Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins
Cell Nucleus/*genetics
Cosmids
DNA/metabolism
DNA, Complementary/metabolism
Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental
Ligands
Molecular Sequence Data
Mutagenesis
Mutation
Phenotype
Phylogeny
Physical Chromosome Mapping
Protein Isoforms
Protein Structure, Tertiary
Receptors, Calcitriol/chemistry
Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear/chemistry/*genetics/*physiology
Receptors, Steroid/chemistry
Time Factors
Tissue Distribution
Abstract:
The daf-12 gene acts at the convergence of pathways regulating larval diapause, developmental age, and adult longevity in Caenorhabditis elegans. It encodes a nuclear receptor most closely related to two C. elegans receptors, NHR-8 and NHR-48, Drosophila DHR96, and vertebrate vitamin D and pregnane-X receptors. daf-12 has three predicted protein isoforms, two of which contain DNA- and ligand-binding domains, and one of which contains the ligand-binding domain only. Mutations cluster in DNA- and ligand-binding domains, but correspond to distinct phenotypic classes. DAF-12 is expressed widely in target tissues from embryo to adult, but is upregulated during midlarval stages. In the adult, expression persists in nervous system and somatic gonad, two tissues that regulate adult longevity. We propose that DAF-12 integrates hormonal signals in cellular targets to coordinate major life history traits.
