CGC Bibliography Paper 5230
Cloning and characterization of the C. elegans gas1 homolog: phas-1.
Agostoni E,
Gobessi S,
Petrini E,
Monte M,
Schneider C
- Medline:
-
- Citation:
- Biochemica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Structure & Expression 1574: 1-9 2002
- Type:
- ARTICLE
- Genes:
- ced-1 phas-1
- Abstract:
- Among the set of genes expressed during the quiescent G0 phase of the cell cycle (gas genes), gas1 encodes for a GPI anchor protein associated to the plasma membrane, which is able to induce growth arrest when overexpressed in proliferating fibroblasts. In this report we describe the isolation and characterization of a gas1 Cetenorhabditis elegans homolog, phas-1, that seems to be transcribed as an operon together with a gene encoding for a protein similar to human acid ceramidases. Phas-1 structure is very similar to its mammalian homolog conserving almost all cysteine residues and it is expressed in the pharynx from its early formation, in the two-fold embryo, until the adult stage. Surprisingly, while phas-1 is expressed in all developmental stages, with the exception of the clatter larva, the ceramidase-like encoding gene, co-expressed in the same operon together with phas-1, is absent in embryos and is very abundantly expressed in the dauer larva. Overexpression of phas-1 in growing NIH3T3 fibroblasts is able to inhibit the S-phase entry in a similar manner as its murine homolog. On the other hand, when phas-1 is overexpressed or ablated in C elegans, no specific phenotype due to its transcription alteration can be observed, despite its localized expression suggesting a