Patterning of sexually dimorphic neurogenesis in the caenorhabditis elegans ventral cord by Hox and TALE homeodomain transcription factors.

BACKGROUND: Reproduction in animals requires development of distinct neurons in each sex. In C. elegans, most ventral cord neurons (VCNs) are present in both sexes, with the exception of six hermaphrodite-specific neurons (VCs) and nine pairs of male-specific neurons (CAs and CPs) that arise from analogous precursor cells. How are the activities of sexual regulators and mediators of neuronal survival, division, and fate coordinated to generate sex-specificity in VCNs? RESULTS: To address this, we have developed a toolkit of VCN markers that allows us to examine sex-specific neurogenesis, asymmetric fates of daughters of a neuroblast division, and regional specification on the anteroposterior axis. Here, we describe the roles of the Hox transcription factors LIN-39 and MAB-5 in promoting survival, differentiation, and regionalization of VCNs. We also find that the TALE class homeodomain proteins CEH-20 and UNC-62 contribute to specification of neurotransmitter fate in males. Furthermore, we identify that VCN sex is determined during the L1 larval stage. CONCLUSIONS: These findings, combined with future analyses made possible by the suite of VCN markers described here, will elucidate how Hox-mediated cell fate decisions and sex determination intersect to influence development of neuronal sex differences.

Hox proteins interact to pattern neuronal subtypes in Caenorhabditis elegans males.

Hox transcription factors are conserved regulators of neuronal subtype specification on the anteroposterior axis in animals, with disruption of Hox gene expression leading to homeotic transformations of neuronal identities. We have taken advantage of an unusual mutation in the Caenorhabditis elegans Hox gene lin-39, lin-39(ccc16), which transforms neuronal fates in the C. elegans male ventral nerve cord in a manner that depends on a second Hox gene, mab-5. We have performed a genetic analysis centered around this homeotic allele of lin-39 in conjunction with reporters for neuronal target genes and protein interaction assays to explore how LIN-39 and MAB-5 exert both flexibility and specificity in target regulation. We identify cis-regulatory modules in neuronal reporters that are both region-specific and Hox-responsive. Using these reporters of neuronal subtype, we also find that the lin-39(ccc16) mutation disrupts neuronal fates specifically in the region where lin-39 and mab-5 are coexpressed, and that the protein encoded by lin-39(ccc16) is active only in the absence of mab-5. Moreover, the fates of neurons typical to the region of lin-39-mab-5 coexpression depend on both Hox genes. Our genetic analysis, along with evidence from Bimolecular Fluorescence Complementation protein interaction assays, supports a model in which LIN-39 and MAB-5 act at an array of cis-regulatory modules to cooperatively activate and to individually activate or repress neuronal gene expression, resulting in regionally specific neuronal fates.

EGL-5/ABD-B plays an instructive role in male cell fate determination in the C. elegans somatic gonad.

Hox genes of the Abdominal-B (Abd-B) class regulate gonadal development in diverse metazoans. Here we have investigated the role of the Abd-B homolog egl-5 in C. elegans gonadal development. Previous work showed that egl-5 is required male-specifically in the gonad and that mutant gonads are highly dysgenic and possibly feminized. We have used sex-specific gonadal reporter genes to confirm that the gonads of egl-5 males are extensively feminized. Sex-specific expression of egl-5 requires the global sex determination gene tra-1 and the gonadal masculinizing gene fkh-6, but mutagenesis of a short male gonadal enhancer element in egl-5 suggested that this regulation is indirect. Ectopic expression of EGL-5 in hermaphrodites is sufficient to induce male gonadal gene expression, indicating that EGL-5 plays an instructive role in male gonadal fate determination. EGL-5 acts in parallel with a Wnt/beta-catenin pathway to regulate male gonadal fates and can physically interact with the Wnt pathway transcription factor POP-1 and modulate activity of a POP-1 dependent reporter gene. We propose that EGL-5 imparts sex-specific function on POP-1 by recruiting it to male-specific gonadal target genes.

The DM domain protein MAB-3 promotes sex-specific neurogenesis in C. elegans by regulating bHLH proteins.

Sexual dimorphism in the nervous system is required for sexual behavior and reproduction in many metazoan species. However, little is known of how sex determination pathways impose sex specificity on nervous system development. In C. elegans, the conserved sexual regulator MAB-3 controls several aspects of male development, including formation of V rays, male-specific sense organs required for mating. Here we show that MAB-3 promotes expression of the proneural protein LIN-32 in V ray precursors by transcriptional repression of ref-1, a member of the Hes family of neurogenic factors. Mutations in ref-1 restore lin-32::gfp expression and normal V ray development to mab-3 mutants, suggesting that ref-1 is the primary target of MAB-3 in the V ray lineage. Proteins related to MAB-3 (DM domain proteins) control sexual differentiation in diverse metazoans. We therefore suggest that regulation of Hes genes by DM domain proteins may be a general mechanism for specifying sex-specific neurons.

Functional genomic identification of genes required for male gonadal differentiation in Caenorhabditis elegans.

The Caenorhabditis elegans somatic gonad develops from a four-cell primordium into a mature organ that differs dramatically between the sexes in overall morphology (two arms in hermaphrodites and one in males) and in the cell types comprising it. Gonadal development in C. elegans is well studied, but regulation of sexual differentiation, especially later in gonadal development, remains poorly elucidated. To identify genes involved in this process, we performed a genome-wide RNAi screen using sex-specifically expressed gonadal GFP reporters. This screen identified several phenotypic classes, including approximately 70 genes whose depletion feminized male gonadal cells. Among the genes required for male cell fate specification are Wnt/beta-catenin pathway members, cell cycle regulators, and genes required for mitotic spindle function and cytokinesis. We find that a Wnt/beta-catenin pathway independent of extracellular Wnt ligand is essential for asymmetric cell divisions and male differentiation during gonadal development in larvae. We also find that the cell cycle regulators cdk-1 and cyb-3 and the spindle/cytokinesis regulator zen-4 are required for Wnt/beta-catenin pathway activity in the developing gonad. After sex is determined in the gonadal primordium the global sex determination pathway is dispensable for gonadal sexual fate, suggesting that male cell fates are promoted and maintained independently of the global pathway during this period.