Disease relevance of daz-1

• Loss of daz-1 function caused sterility in hermaphrodites, by blocking oogenesis at the pachytene stage of meiosis I [1].
• Detailed phenotypic analyses with fluorescence microscopy and transmission electron microscopy have revealed that loss of daz-1 function causes multiple abnormalities as early as the onset of meiotic prophase, which include aberrant chromatin structure, small nucleoli, absence of the cytoplasmic core, and precocious cellularization [2].

High impact information on daz-1

• Analysis employing sex-determination mutants indicated that the daz-1 function was required for meiosis of female germline regardless of the sex of the soma [1].
• Spermatogenesis did not appear to be affected in daz-1 hermaphrodites [1].
• Transcription of daz-1 was restricted to the germline, starting prior to the onset of meiosis and was most conspicuous in cells undergoing oogenesis [1].
• Conversely, a mutation in gld-3, a gene that functionally counteracts FBF, could partially restore oogenesis in the daz-1 mutant [3].
• Expression of the FBF proteins seemed to be lowered in the daz-1 mutant at the stage for the sperm/oocyte switch [3].

Biological context of daz-1

• RNA interference of the daz-1 orthologue in a related nematode, Caenorhabditis briggsae, resulted in a complete loss of the sperm/oocyte switch [3].
• We have previously shown that mutations in daz-1, the only DAZ family gene in Caenorhabditis elegans, cause pachytene stage arrest of female germ cells but do not affect spermatogenesis [2].

Anatomical context of daz-1

• Together, we propose that daz-1 plays a role upstream of the pathway for germ cell sex determination [3].

References