O. Hobert et al., CONTROL OF NEURAL DEVELOPMENT AND FUNCTION IN A THERMOREGULATORY NETWORK BY THE LIM HOMEOBOX GENE LIN-11, The Journal of neuroscience, 18(6), 1998, pp. 2084-2096
We show here that the lin-11 LIM homeobox gene is expressed in nine cl
asses of head, ventral cord, and tail neurons and functions at a late
step in the development of a subset of these neurons, In a lin-11 null
mutant, all lin-11-expressing neurons are generated. Several of these
neurons, however, exhibit neuroanatomical as well as functional defec
ts, In the lateral head ganglion, lin-11 functions in a neural network
that regulates thermosensory behavior. It is expressed in the AIZ int
erneuron that processes high temperature input and is required for the
function of AIZ in the thermoregulatory neural network. Another LIM h
omeobox gene, ttx-3, functions in the antagonistic thermoregulatory in
terneuron AIY (Hobert et al., 1997), Thus, distinct LIM genes specify
the functions of functionally related antagonistic interneurons within
a neural network dedicated for thermoregulatory processes, Both ttx-3
and lin-11 expression are maintained throughout adulthood, suggesting
that these LIM homeobox genes play a role in the functional maintenan
ce of this neural circuit, We propose that particular LIM homeobox gen
es specify the distinct features of functionally related neurons that
generate patterned behaviors.