Lateral inhibition during vulval induction in Caenorhabditis elegans (original) (raw)

Nature volume 335, pages 551–554 (1988)Cite this article

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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  1. Division of Biology 156–29, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, 91125, USA
    Paul W. Sternberg

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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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