fem-1;fer-15;hsp-12.6

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.