Evolution of the PP2C Family in Caenorhabditis: Rapid Divergence of the Sex-Determining Protein FEM-2

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorStothard, Paulen
dc.contributor.authorHansen, Dave D.en
dc.contributor.authorPilgrim, Daveen
dc.contributor.departmentBiological Sciencesen
dc.contributor.facultyFaculty of Scienceen
dc.contributor.institutionUniversity of Calgaryen
dc.date.accessioned2006-08-15T17:12:20Z
dc.date.available2006-08-15T17:12:20Z
dc.date.issued2002
dc.description© Springer-Verlag New York Inc. 2002 DOI: 10.1007/s0023901-0008-yen
dc.description.abstractTo investigate the causes and functional significance of rapid sex-determining protein evolution we compared three Caenorhabditis elegans genes encoding members of the protein phosphatase 2C (PP2C) family with their orthologs from another Caenorhabditis species (strain CB5161). One of the genes encodes FEM-2, a sex-determining protein, while the others have no known sex-determining role. FEM-2’s PP2C domain was found to be more diverged than the other PP2C domains, supporting the notion that sex-determining proteins are subjected to selective pressures that allow for or cause rapid divergence. Comparison of the positions of amino acid substitutions in FEM-2 with a solved three-dimensional structure suggests that the catalytic face of the protein is highly conserved among C. elegans, CB5161, and another closely related species C. briggsae. However, the non-conserved regions of FEM-2 cannot be said to lack functional importance, since fem-2 transgenes from the other species were unable to rescue the germ-line defect caused by a C. elegans fem-2 mutation. To test whether fem-2 functions as a sex-determining gene in the other Caenorhabditis species we used RNA-mediated interference (RNAi). fem-2 (RNAi) in C. elegans and C. briggsae caused germ-line feminization, but had no noticeable effect in CB5161. Thus the function of fem-2 in CB5161 remains uncertain.en
dc.description.refereedyesen
dc.format.extent1305330 bytes
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdf
dc.identifier.citationPaul Stothard, Dave Hansen, Dave Pilgrim "Evolution of the PP2C Family in Caenorhabditis: Rapid Divergence of the Sex-Determining Protein FEM-2 " J Mol Evol (2002) 54:267–282en
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/35121
dc.identifier.issn0022-2844
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1880/43440
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherSpringer-Verlagen
dc.publisher.urlhttp://www.springerlink.com/content/1432-1432/
dc.subjectBiologyen
dc.subject.otherfem-2 geneen
dc.subject.otherSex determinationen
dc.subject.otherProtein phosphataseen
dc.subject.otherPP2Cen
dc.subject.otherC. briggsaeen
dc.subject.otherCB5161en
dc.subject.otherRapid evolutionen
dc.titleEvolution of the PP2C Family in Caenorhabditis: Rapid Divergence of the Sex-Determining Protein FEM-2en
dc.typejournal article
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Stothard_et_alia_2002.pdf
Size:
1.24 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download
License bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
license.txt
Size:
1.88 KB
Format:
Item-specific license agreed upon to submission
Description:
Download
Collections
Science Research & Publications