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Science 1 February 2002:
Vol. 295. no. 5556, pp. 821 - 825
DOI: 10.1126/science.1065175
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Research Articles

Regulation of Organogenesis by the Caenorhabditis elegans FoxA Protein PHA-4

J. Gaudet, S. E. Mango*

The pha-4 locus encodes a forkhead box A (FoxA/HNF3) transcription factor homolog that specifies organ identity for Caenorhabditis elegans pharyngeal cells. We used microarrays to identify pharyngeal genes and analyzed those genes to determine which were direct PHA-4 targets. Our data suggest that PHA-4 directly activates most or all pharyngeal genes. Furthermore, the relative affinity of PHA-4 for different TRTTKRY (R = A/G, K = T/G, Y = T/C) elements modulates the onset of gene expression, providing a mechanism to activate pharyngeal genes at different developmental stages. We suggest that direct transcriptional regulation of entire gene networks may be a common feature of organ identity genes.

Huntsman Cancer Institute, University of Utah, 2000 Circle of Hope, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: susan.mango{at}hci.utah.edu

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)