Study of the Role of EGL-38 PAX in the Developing Egg-Laying System and Germline Cell Survival in Caenorhabditis Elegans

Understanding how genes coordinate the organization of cells into organs and how mutations in these genes upset this organization are fundamental questions in both cancer research and developmental biology.PAX factors play important roles to coordinate the development of mammalian organs like the kidney, eye and thyroid.The disruption of PAX activity leads to diseases like renal-coloboma syndrome and cancers in mammals.Dissecting the different functions for these factors has been difficult due to the complexity of organ development.To better understand these processes at a cellular level, I studied the role of a Pax2/5/8 transcription factor, EGL-38 in the developing egglaying system and in the survival of germline cells of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans.egl-38(n578) mutant animals exhibit of high levels of Programmed Cell Death (PCD) in the germline and the soma.Wild-type EGL-38 can transcriptionally regulate the bcl-2 gene, ced-9 in C .elegans.In this dissertation, I performed mosaic analysis for EGL-38 and found that its activity is required in both the germline and soma to promote germline cell survival.EGL-38 is also involved in the development of the C .elegans egg-laying system.The egl-38(n578) mutants are egg-laying defective, so the eggs hatch within the hermaphrodite parent.The latter then bursts to release viable progeny.The C .elegans