daf-2;fem-1;fer-15;hsp-12.6

Insulin-like receptor subunit beta;Receptor protein-tyrosine kinase;hypothetical protein

Locus: CELE_Y55D5A.5

Wormbase description: daf-2 encodes a receptor tyrosine kinase that is the C. elegans insulin/IGF receptor ortholog; DAF-2 activity is required for a number of processes in C. elegans, including embryonic and larval development, formation of the developmentally arrested dauer larval stage (diapause), larval developmental timing, adult longevity, reproduction, fat storage, salt chemotaxis learning, and stress resistance, including response to high temperature, oxidative stress, and bacterial infection; DAF-2 signals through a conserved PI 3-kinase pathway to negatively regulate the activity of DAF-16, a Forkhead-related transcription factor, by inducing its phosphorylation and nuclear exclusion; in addition, DAF-2 negatively regulates the nuclear localization, and hence transcriptional activity, of SKN-1 in intestinal nuclei; amongst the 38 predicted insulin-like molecules in C. elegans, genetic and microarray analyses suggest that at least DAF-28, INS-1, and INS-7 are likely DAF-2 ligands; genetic mosaic and tissue-specific promoter studies indicate that daf-2 can function cell nonautonomously and within multiple cell types to influence dauer formation and adult lifespan, likely by regulating the production of secondary endocrine signals that coordinate growth and longevity throughout the animal; temporal analysis of daf-2 function indicates that daf-2 regulates lifespan, reproduction, and diapause independently, at distinct times during the animal's life cycle.

Sex-determining protein fem-1

Locus: CELE_F35D6.1

Wormbase description: The fem-1 gene encodes an ankyrin repeat-containing protein orthologous to human FEM1A and is required for masculinization of germline and somatic tissues; FEM-1 is widely expressed and functions as a second messenger in the sex determination pathway, connecting the membrane protein TRA-2A to the transcription factor TRA-1A which it negatively regulates; FEM-1 may also play a role in apoptosis, as it is a substrate for the CED-3 protease and can induce apoptosis when overexpressed in mammalian cells.

No gene information for fer-15

Heat Shock Protein

Locus: CELE_F38E11.2

Wormbase description: hsp-12.6 encodes a small heat-shock protein with very short N- and C-terminal domains flanking its central region of similarity to alpha-crystallins; HSP-12.6 is required in vivo for normal lifespan; HSP-12.6 is predominantly and ubiquitously expressed in L1 larvae without any obvious induction by stressors; but, in adult hermaphrodites, at least one HSP-12 is also expressed in spermatids (and perhaps spermatocytes), as well as in some vulval cells; moreover, hsp-12.6 is upregulated in 6- and 10-day-old daf-2 mutants, and this upregulation is highly reproducible (like that of five other genes, vit-2, vit-5, fat-3, nid-1, and mtl-1), strongly suggesting that hsp-12.6's expression may contribute to prolonged lifespan in dauer larvae; the hsp-12.6 promoter is predicted to have both DAF-16 and HSF-1 binding sites; hsp-12.6(RNAi) animals are shorter-lived than normal; recombinant HSP-12.6 is monomeric, and lacks molecular chaperone activity in vitro; hsp-12.6 induction requires DAF-16 and HSF-1, but not SMK-1.