CELE_ZK792.6, lin-34, ZK792.6

let-60 encodes a member of the GTP-binding RAS protooncogene family; let-60 activity is required for viability, vulval development, spicule development, germ line meiotic progression, posterior development of the hypodermis, chemotaxis, sex myoblast migration, and muscle membrane extension; let-60 acts genetically downstream of let-23 with respect to vulval development and upstream of the MAPK pathway with respect to chemotaxis; let-60 is expressed in neural, muscle, and hypodermal lineages.

CELE_T21G5.3, rhl-2, T21G5.3

glh-1 encodes a putative DEAD-box RNA helicase that contains four CCHC zinc fingers and is homologous to Drosophila VASA, a germ-line-specific, ATP-dependent RNA helicase; at permissive temperature, GLH-1 is required redundantly with GLH-4 for proper germ-line development and fertility, specifically for regulating the normal extent of germ-line proliferation, oogenesis, and the production of functional sperm; GLH-1 activity is also likely required for the wild-type morphology of P granules and for localization of several protein components, such as PGL-1, but not for accumulation of P granule mRNAs; GLH-1 interacts in vivo with CSN-5, a COP9 signalosome component, and in vitro with itself and with KGB-1, a JNK-like MAP kinase, ZYX-1, a LIM domain-containing zyxin homologue, and GLH-3; GLH-1 is a constitutive P granule component and thus, with the exception of mature sperm, is expressed in germ cells at all stages of development; consistent with its P granule localization, GLH-1 is cytoplasmic in oocytes and the early embryo, while perinuclear in all later developmental stages as well as in the distal and medial regions of the hermaphrodite gonad; GLH-1 is also expressed in males.