Beitel G J, Clark S G, Horvitz H R
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge 02139.
Nature. 1990 Dec 6;348(6301):503-9. doi: 10.1038/348503a0.
The let-60 gene, an essential ras gene of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, acts as a switch in the inductive signalling pathway that initiates vulva formation. Recessive let-60 mutations that cause a vulvaless phenotype prevent let-60 function in response to the inductive signal. These mutations are clustered and define regions necessary either for the activation or for the action of the let-60 ras protein. Dominant let-60 mutations that cause a multivulva phenotype alter codon 13 and activate let-60 in vivo, rendering it independent of the inductive signal. The let-60 gene acts within an extensively defined genetic pathway, and other genes within this pathway seem likely to encode molecules that regulate let-60 function as well as molecules that are targets of let-60 action.
let-60基因是线虫秀丽隐杆线虫的一种必需ras基因，在启动外阴形成的诱导信号通路中起开关作用。导致无外阴表型的隐性let-60突变会阻止let-60对诱导信号作出反应的功能。这些突变聚集在一起，定义了let-60 ras蛋白激活或作用所必需的区域。导致多外阴表型的显性let-60突变会改变密码子13并在体内激活let-60，使其独立于诱导信号。let-60基因在一个广泛定义的遗传途径中起作用，该途径中的其他基因似乎可能编码调节let-60功能的分子以及作为let-60作用靶点的分子。
