High impact information on plx-1

• This smp-1- and plx-1-dependent process repeats until seven rings are stacked along the dorsoventral axis, creating a common vulva lumen [1].
• Recent work in C. elegans showed that semaphorin 1 (smp-1 and smp-2) and plexin 1 (plx-1) are required to prevent anterior displacement of the ray 1 cells in the male tail (Fujii et al., 2002; Ginzburg et al., 2002) [2].
• Suppression of C. elegans transmembrane semaphorins, Ce-Sema-1a and Ce-Sema-1b, by RNA interference caused a displacement of ray 1 similar to that of plx-1 mutants, whereas mutants for the Ce-Sema-2a/mab-20 gene, which encodes a secreted-type semaphorin, exhibited phenotypes distinct from those of plx-1 mutants [3].
• In plx-1 and smp-1 mutants, hermaphrodites sometimes exhibit a protruding vulva or multiple vulva-like protrusions [4].
• Analyses using cell fate-specific markers showed that the arrangement defects of VPCs also affect cell fate specification and cell lineages, but in a relatively small fraction of plx-1 mutants [4].

Biological context of plx-1

• The arrangement defects of VPCs in plx-1 and smp-1 mutants are rescued by expressing the respective cDNA in VPCs. plx-1::egfp and smp-1::egfp transgenes are both expressed in all vulval cells, including VPCs, throughout vulval development [4].

Other interactions of plx-1

• Throughout the vulval development of plx-1 and smp-1 mutants, the arrangement of vulval cells is often disrupted [4].

References