CELE_C54D1.6, pvl-1, spy-1, C54D1.6

bar-1 encodes a beta-catenin; during C. elegans development, BAR-1 likely functions as a transcriptional coactivator whose activity is required for Q neuroblast migration, P12 cell fate specification, and P3.p through P8.p vulval cell fate specification at two different stages of development; in specifying vulval cell fates, bar-1 interacts with Wnt and MAPK signaling pathways to regulate proper expression of the LIN-39 homeodomain transcription factor, overexpresion of which can partially rescue the bar-1 mutant phenotype; in yeast two-hybrid assays, BAR-1 interacts strongly with the POP-1/TCF transcription factor, and when fused to the Gal4 DNA binding domain, BAR-1 can function in yeast as a transcriptional coactivator; during larval development, BAR-1 expression begins in P3.p through P8.p at the late L1 stage and then disappears from these cells by the mid-L3 stage; BAR-1 is also expressed in P12, in the seam cells, and in cells of the somatic gonad; BAR-1 subcellular localization, assessed using an integrated transgene, reveals localization to the cytoplasm, nucleus, and cell junctions; genetic mosaic analyses indicate that, in P4.p and in P12, bar-1 acts cell autonomously to specify cell fates.

CELE_C10H11.9, C10H11.9

let-502 encodes a Rho-binding Ser/Thr kinase orthologous to human myotonic dystrophy kinase (DM-kinase); let-502 is required for early embryonic cleavages, embryonic elongation, migration of hypodermal P cells to a ventral position, normal spermathecal contraction, and fertility; LET-502 is required for hypodermal cells to properly change their shape, and is expressed in those cells, during embryonic elongation; let-502 mutations are suppressed by mel-11 mutations, and the pattern of LET-502 expression in the embryonic epidermis and the spermatheca is opposite to that of MEL-11, indicating that LET-502 and MEL-11 have opposing functions (presumably tissue contraction and relaxation); MEL-11 requires LET-502 (along with the nonmuscle myosin NMY-1) for proper localization.