Abstract
During Caenorhabditis elegans vulval induction the anchor cell of the gonad specifies a spatial pattern of three cell types among a set of six multipotent epidermal cells, the vulval precursor cells (VPCs)1–4. Previous studies suggested that the anchor cell produces a graded inductive signal which can directly stimulate VPCs away from a ground state (type 3) to become type 1 or type 2 depending on their distance from the anchor cell4. Here, we investigate the interactions among VPCs in a mutant, lin-15, in which VPC fates are rendered partially independent of the inductive signal5,6, and show that type 1 cells actively inhibit adjacent cells from also becoming type 1 cells. The fate of each VPC therefore depends on the combined action of two intercellular signals: a graded inductive signal from the anchor cell, and a lateral inhibitory signal from at least some of its neighbours. Pattern formation among the VPCs lin-15 mutant is analogous to the establishment of the pattern of neuroblasts and dermatoblasts during early insect neurogenesis7,8, suggesting that the similarities in inferred molecular structure of the lin-12 and Notch gene products, which are involved in these two instances of pattern formation9–12, might extend to similarities in function.
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Sternberg, P. Lateral inhibition during vulval induction in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature 335, 551–554 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1038/335551a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/335551a0
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