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_T07H6.2, bop-1, T07H6.2

mom-1 encodes a putative O-acyltransferase orthologous to Drosophila PORCUPINE and human PORCN (OMIM:300651, mutated in focal dermal hypoplasia); MOM-1 functions as part of a Wnt/MAPK signaling pathway required maternally for endoderm induction in the early embryo; by orthology, MOM-1 is predicted to be a membrane-spanning endoplasmic reticulum protein that stimulates post-translational processing of Wnt signaling molecules such as MOM-2; embryonic mosaic analysis indicates that MOM-1 activity is required in the signaling cell, P2, for proper specification of endoderm, consistent with its predicted role in processing MOM-2/Wnt.