C. elegans agrin is expressed in pharynx, IL1 neurons and distal tip cells and does not genetically interact with genes involved in synaptogenesis or muscle function.

Agrin is a basement membrane protein crucial for development and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction in vertebrates. The C. elegans genome harbors a putative agrin gene agr-1.

The Caenorhabditis elegans homologue of the proto-oncogene ect-2 positively regulates RAS signalling during vulval development.

Guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) regulate the activity of small GTP-binding proteins in a variety of biological processes. We have identified a gain-of-function mutation in the Caenorhabditis elegans GEF ect-2, the homologue of the mammalian ect2 proto-oncogene that has an essential role during cytokinesis. Here, we report that, in addition to its known function during mitosis, ECT-2 promotes the specification of the primary vulval cell fate by activating RAS/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signalling before the end of the S-phase.

EGF signal propagation during C. elegans vulval development mediated by ROM-1 rhomboid.

During Caenorhabditis elegans vulval development, the anchor cell (AC) in the somatic gonad secretes an epidermal growth factor (EGF) to activate the EGF receptor (EGFR) signaling pathway in the adjacent vulval precursor cells (VPCs). The inductive AC signal specifies the vulval fates of the three proximal VPCs P5.p, P6.