Asymmetric neuroblast divisions producing apoptotic cells require the cytohesin GRP-1 in Caenorhabditis elegans.

Asymmetric neuroblast divisions producing apoptotic cells require the cytohesin GRP-1 in C. elegans

C. elegans HAM-1 positions the cleavage plane and regulates apoptosis in asymmetric neuroblast divisions.

Asymmetric cell division occurs when a mother cell divides to generate two distinct daughter cells, a process that promotes the generation of cellular diversity in metazoans. During Caenorhabditis elegans development, the asymmetric divisions of neural progenitors generate neurons, neural support cells and apoptotic cells. C. elegans HAM-1 is an asymmetrically distributed cortical protein that ...

Caenorhabditis elegans PIG-1/MELK acts in a conserved PAR-4/LKB1 polarity pathway to promote asymmetric neuroblast divisions.

Asymmetric cell divisions produce daughter cells with distinct sizes and fates, a process important for generating cell diversity during development. Many Caenorhabditis elegans neuroblasts, including the posterior daughter of the Q cell (Q.p), divide to produce a larger neuron or neuronal precursor and a smaller cell that dies. These size and fate asymmetries require the gene pig-1, which enco...

The C. elegans MELK ortholog PIG-1 regulates cell size asymmetry and daughter cell fate in asymmetric neuroblast divisions.

In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, neurons are generated from asymmetric divisions in which a mother cell divides to produce daughters that differ in fate. Here, we demonstrate that the gene pig-1 regulates the asymmetric divisions of neuroblasts that divide to produce an apoptotic cell and either a neural precursor or a neuron. In pig-1 mutants, these neuroblasts divide to produce daughte...

The Arf GAP CNT-2 Regulates the Apoptotic Fate in C. elegans Asymmetric Neuroblast Divisions

During development, all cells make the decision to live or die. Although the molecular mechanisms that execute the apoptotic program are well defined, less is known about how cells decide whether to live or die. In C. elegans, this decision is linked to how cells divide asymmetrically [1, 2]. Several classes of molecules are known to regulate asymmetric cell divisions in metazoans, yet these mo...