The two papers cited as in press are:
[i]- Hao L, Aspöck G, Bürglin TR. The hedgehog-related gene wrt-5 is essential for
hypodermal development in Caenorhabditis elegans. Dev Biol. 2006 Feb
15;290(2):323-36. Epub 2006 Jan 18. PubMed PMID: 16413526.
- Hao L, Mukherjee K, Liegeois S, Baillie D, Labouesse M, Bürglin TR. The
hedgehog-related gene qua-1 is required for molting in Caenorhabditis elegans.
Dev Dyn. 2006 Jun;235(6):1469-81. PubMed PMID: 16502424[/i].
In a further paper, we conducted an expression survey of the remainder of the wrt, grd, and grl genes.
Many of them are expressed in the hypodermis, seam cells, neuronal support cells, rectal cells etc.
A number of people have found some of these reporters useful markers.
Hao L, Johnsen R, Lauter G, Baillie D, Bürglin TR. Comprehensive analysis of
gene expression patterns of hedgehog-related genes. BMC Genomics. 2006 Oct
31;7:280. PubMed PMID: 17076889; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1636047.
An evolutionary analysis revealed that the Hog domain is rather ancient and was probably present
at the origin of eukaryotes. While C. elegans has no hedgehog, Enoplia nematodes do have hedgehog,
in addition to quahog, and other hedgehog-related genes.
Bürglin TR. Evolution of hedgehog and hedgehog-related genes, their origin
from Hog proteins in ancestral eukaryotes and discovery of a novel Hint motif.
BMC Genomics. 2008 Mar 11;9:127. PubMed PMID: 18334026; PubMed Central PMCID:
PMC2362128.
[
This is a review of the evolution of hedgehog and hedgehog-related genes.
A new finding is that hedgehog-related genes are also present in Lophotrochozoa.
Bürglin TR. The Hedgehog protein family. Genome Biol. 2008;9(11):241. Epub
2008 Nov 19. Review. PubMed PMID: 19040769; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2614485.