The GLD-2/-3 cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase complex and its mRNA targets in C. elegans germ cells

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Christian R. Eckmann
• Subject Area: Cell Biology
• Term: from 2007 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 33442413

Many developmental decisions depend on posttranscriptional controls. Our work on germ cell fate decisions identified novel and conserved RNA regulators. The emerging picture is that a molecular network of translational repressors and activators executes cell fate decisions by regulating mRNAs, encoding key cell fate determinants and gene products required for the gametogenic differentiation program. While target mRNAs may differ depending on the cell fate, the assembling RNP complexes contain a core proteinmachinery that is involved in almost all known germ cell fate decisions. We propose to continue our previous studies on the GLD-2-type cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase (cyto-PAP) and its regulator, the multi-KH domain protein GLD-3. We found evidences that the cytoplasmic polyadenylation element binding protein (CPEB), CPB-3, as a component of a GLD-2/-3 complex and that all three proteins associate with cpb-3 mRNA. We propose to study the regulation of cpb-3 mRNA in detail and will elucidate the mechanistic roles of CPB- 3 for GLD-2 activity. We also propose to continue our analysis of GLD-2/-3 target mRNAs, which we isolated in an unbiased screen. Our experi-ments aim to provide new insights into the molecular function of GLD-2 PAPs and will reveal some of its molecular targets and their role in germ line development.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 855: Cytoplasmic Regulation of Gene Expression