CELE_Y37A1B.1

Protein LST-3

CELE_Y38A10A.5, Y38A10A.5

crt-1 encodes an ortholog of calreticulin (a calcium-binding molecular chaperone of the endoplasmic reticulum); crt-1 is dispensable for viability, but required for normal sperm development, male mating efficiency, some forms of necrotic cell death, and hermaphrodite fertility at high temperatures (which may reflect a stress response); crt-1 expression is induced by stress; CRT-1 protein binds Ca(2+) and can suppress heat-induced protein aggregation in vitro; crt-1(bz29) and crt-1(bz30) mutants suppress necrotic cell death induced either by mec-4(d) or by a constitutively activated Gas subunit; crt-1(bz29); crt-1's suppression of necrosis is itself partly reversed by thapsigargin, which enhances calcium release from the endoplasmic reticulum; crt-1(bz30), and crt-1(jh101) mutants grow more slowly, and have have reduced broods at 25 deg. C.; crt-1(jh101) mutants are slightly shorter than normal and have defective sperm; CRT-1 and ITR-1 serve partly redundant functions in vivo, since crt-1;itr-1(sa73) are highly infertile and slow-growing with greatly slowed defecation; a number of proteins, notably HSP-3/4 and PDI-2/3, are over-expressed in crt-1(jh101) mutants and crt-1(jh101);cnx-1(nr2009) double mutants.