CELE_C32D5.2, C32D5.2

sma-6 encodes a serine/threonine protein kinase that is orthologous to type I TGF-beta receptors; sma-6 activity is required for regulating body length and for proper development of the male tail; sma-6, along with other genes in the TGF-beta Sma/Mab pathway, also regulates reproductive aging; a reduction of TGF-beta pathway genes extends reproductive span by maintaining oocyte and germline quality; sma-6 expression first begins at the 1.5-fold stage of embryogenesis and continues through adulthood; sma-6 is expressed in dorsal and ventral hypodermis, pharyngeal muscle, and the intestine; expression in the hypodermis is necessary and sufficient for body length regulation.

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.