The Caenorhabditis elegans sel-1 Gene, a Negative Regulator of lin-12 and glp-1, Encodes a Predicted Extracellular Protein

The Caenorhabditis elegans lin-12 and glp-1 genes encode members of the LIN-l2/NOTCH family of receptors. The sel-1 gene was identified as an extragenic suppressor of a lin-12 hypomorphic mutant. We show in this report that the sel-1 null phenotype is wild type, except for an apparent elevation in lin-12 and glp-1 activity in sensitized genetic backgrounds, and that this genetic interaction seems to be lin-12 and glp-1 specific. We also find that sel-1 encodes a predicted extracellular protein, with a domain sharing sequence similarity to predicted proteins from humans and yeast. SEL-1 may interact with the LIN-12 and GLP-1 receptors and/or their respective ligands to down-regulate signaling.