Direct regulation of egl-1 and of programmed cell death by the Hox protein MAB-5 and by CEH-20, a C. elegans homolog of Pbx1.

Hox genes are crucial determinants of cell fates and of body morphology of animals; mutations affecting these genes result in abnormal patterns of programmed cell death. How Hox genes regulate programmed cell death is an important and poorly understood aspect of normal development. In the nematode C. elegans, the Hox gene mab-5 is required for the programmed cell deaths of two lineally related cells generated in the P11 and P12 lineages. We show here that in the P11 lineage, a complex between MAB-5 and the Pbx homolog CEH-20 directly regulates transcription of the BH3 domain gene egl-1 to initiate programmed cell death; in the P12 lineage, mab-5 and ceh-20 apparently act indirectly to initiate programmed cell death. Direct regulation of programmed cell death may be an evolutionarily ancient and conserved function of Hox genes.

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