The forkhead transcription factor UNC-130/FOXD integrates both BMP and Notch signaling to regulate dorsoventral patterning of the C. elegans postembryonic mesoderm
Open accessAbstract
The proper development of a multicellular organism requires precise spatial and temporal coordination of cell intrinsic and cell extrinsic regulatory mechanisms. Both Notch signaling and bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) signaling function to regulate the proper development of the C. elegans postembryonic mesoderm. We have identified the C. elegans FOXD transcription factor UNC-130 as a major target functioning downstream of both BMP signaling and Notch signaling to regulate dorsoventral patterning of the postembryonic mesoderm. We showed that unc-130 expression in the postembryonic M lineage is asymmetric: its absence of expression in the dorsal side of the M lineage requires the antagonism of BMP signaling by the zinc finger transcription factor SMA-9, while its expression in the ventral side of the M lineage is activated by LIN-12/Notch signaling. We further showed that the regulation of UNC-130 expression by BMP signaling and Notch signaling is specific to the M lineage, as the ventral expression of UNC-130 in the embryonically-derived bodywall muscles was not affected in either BMP pathway or Notch pathway mutants. Finally, we showed that the function of UNC-130 in the M lineage is independent of UNC-129, a gene previously shown to function downstream of and be repressed by UNC-130 for axon guidance. Our studies uncovered a new function of UNC-130/FOXD in the C. elegans postembryonic mesoderm, and identify UNC-130 as a critical factor that integrates two independent spatial cues for the proper patterning and fate specification of the C. elegans postembryonic mesoderm.
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Foxd3 is regulated by BMP signals in other contexts.
“Foxd3 maintains pluripotency of neural crest cells and later contributes to specifying neuronal, glial, and iridophore fates over melanocyte or melanophore fates (51, 52, 60) and is regulated by BMP signals in other contexts (61, 62).”
From Agouti and BMP signaling drive a naturally occurring fate conversion of melanophores to leucophores in zebrafish (2025) · cites this paper as [61]
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Research works printed but not linked: 34
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Huang, D., Kapadia, E. H., Liang, Y., Shriver, L. P., Dai, S., Patti, G. J., Humbel, B. M., Laudet, V., & Parichy, D. M. (2025) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2424180122 · Cited by 15 · see citing works
- Authors
- Shen, Q., Toulabi, L. B., Shi, H., Nicklow, E. E., & Liu, J.
- Affiliations
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Liu, Jun
- Venue
- Developmental Biology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2018-01
- Volume
- 433
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 75-83
- ISSN
- 0012-1606 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5722696
- OpenAlex
- W2768610216
- Cited by
- 10
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 2 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 2
- FWCI
- 0.45
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Developmental Biology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (R01 GM066953, R01 GM103869, P40 OD010440)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Developmental Biology and Gene Regulation
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Wnt/β-catenin signaling in development and cancer
- Keywords
- BMP signaling, Notch signaling, dorsoventral patterning, cell fate specification, spatial patterning, Caenorhabditis elegans
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Cell Differentiation, Embryo, Nonmammalian, Mesoderm, Transcription Factors, Signal Transduction, Zinc Fingers, Caenorhabditis elegans, Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental, Cell Lineage, Bone Morphogenetic Proteins, Body Patterning, Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins, Forkhead Transcription Factors, Receptors, Notch
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