Polarized epidermal growth factor secretion ensures robust vulval cell fate specification in .

The anchor cell (AC) in secretes an epidermal growth factor (EGF) homolog that induces adjacent vulval precursor cells (VPCs) to differentiate. The EGF receptor in the nearest VPC sequesters the limiting EGF amounts released by the AC to prevent EGF from spreading to distal VPCs. Here, we show that not only EGFR localization in the VPCs but also EGF polarity in the AC is necessary for robust fate specification.

The C. elegans hox gene lin-39 controls cell cycle progression during vulval development.

Cell fate specification during organogenesis is usually followed by a phase of cell proliferation to produce the required number of differentiated cells. The Caenorhabditis elegans vulva is an excellent model to study how cell fate specification and cell proliferation are coordinated. The six vulval precursor cells (VPCs) are born at the first larval stage, but they arrest in the G1 phase of the cell cycle until the beginning of the third larval stage, when their fates are specified and the three proximal VPCs proliferate to generate 22 vulval cells.

An AGEF-1/Arf GTPase/AP-1 ensemble antagonizes LET-23 EGFR basolateral localization and signaling during C. elegans vulva induction.

LET-23 Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) signaling specifies the vulval cell fates during C. elegans larval development. LET-23 EGFR localization on the basolateral membrane of the vulval precursor cells (VPCs) is required to engage the LIN-3 EGF-like inductive signal.

An intimate look at LET-23 EGFR trafficking in the vulval cells of live C. elegans larvae.

Precise cell fate specification is essential for organ formation. A simple view is that one or several signal sending cells emit a ligand to a group of signal receiving cells that express the corresponding receptor, which transduces the signal through intracellular enzyme pathways. All these events must be spatio-temporally regulated to achieve the proper strength, duration and output of the signaling pathways.

An in vivo EGF receptor localization screen in C. elegans Identifies the Ezrin homolog ERM-1 as a temporal regulator of signaling.

The subcellular localization of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) in polarized epithelial cells profoundly affects the activity of the intracellular signaling pathways activated after EGF ligand binding. Therefore, changes in EGFR localization and signaling are implicated in various human diseases, including different types of cancer. We have performed the first in vivo EGFR localization screen in an animal model by observing the expression of the EGFR ortholog LET-23 in the vulval epithelium of live C.