Dl. Church et al., 3 GENES OF THE MAP KINASE CASCADE, MEK-2, MPK-1 SUR-1 AND LET-60 RAS,ARE REQUIRED FOR MEIOTIC CELL-CYCLE PROGRESSION IN CAENORHABDITIS-ELEGANS/, Development, 121(8), 1995, pp. 2525-2535
In the germline of Caenorhabditis elegans hermaphrodites, meiotic cell
cycle progression occurs in spatially restricted regions, Immediately
after leaving the distal mitotic region, germ cells enter meiosis and
thereafter remain in the pachytene stage of first meiotic prophase fo
r an extended period, At the dorsoventral gonadal flexure, germ cells
exit pachytene and subsequently become arrested in diakinesis, We have
found that exit from pachytene is dependent on the function of three
members of the MAP kinase signaling cascade, One of these genes, mek-2
, is a newly identified C, elegans MEK (MAP kinase kinase), The other
two genes, mpk-1/sur-1 (MAP kinase) and let-60 ras, were previously id
entified based on their roles in vulval induction and are shown here t
o act in combination with mek-2 to permit exit from pachytene, Through
genetic mosaic analysis, we demonstrate that the expression of mpk-1/
sur-1 is required within the germline to permit exit from pachytene.