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_F22B5.7, F22B5.7

zyg-9 encodes a predicted microtubule-association protein (MAP) of the XMAP215 family; during early embryonic development, maternal zyg-9 activity is required for microtubule-dependent processes such as meiotic and mitotic spindle organization and pronuclear migration; further, zyg-9 is essential for formation of long astral microtubules; ZYG-9 is required for centrosomal localization of TAC-1, the sole C. elegans TACC family member, with which it interacts, and mutually stabilizes, in vivo; in early embryos, ZYG-9 localizes to the meiotic spindle and spindle poles, as well as to mitotic centrosomes; during metaphase and anaphase ZYG-9 localizes to the central spindle region, and during interphase ZYG-9 is cytoplasmic; proper localization of ZYG-9 to the meiotic spindle is dependent upon wild-type activity of MEI-1, an ATPase essential for meiotic spindle formation, while proper localization of ZYG-9 to centrosomes is dependent, at least in part, upon TAC-1.