WormMine

WS295

Intermine data mining platform for C. elegans and related nematodes

Anatomy Term :

Definition  Postembryonic neuroblast, analogous to Pn.a cells, also known as P0. Name  W cell
Primary Identifier  WBbt:0004583 Synonym  lineage name: ABprapaapa

3 Children

Definition Name Synonym Primary Identifier
nucleus of pedigree ABprapaapa ABprapaapa nucleus W nucleus WBbt:0003251
post-embryonic cell of pedigree W.p W.p   WBbt:0007571
post-embryonic cell of pedigree W.a W.a   WBbt:0007568

1 Expression Clusters

Regulated By Treatment Description Algorithm Primary Identifier
  Top 300 transcripts enriched in G2, W cell according to single cell RNAseq. Top 300 enriched transcripts were determined by log2.ratio of the tpm in the cell type vs the tpm in the other cells * the log2 of the cell.type tpm. WBPaper00061340:G2_and_W_blasts

9 Expression Patterns

Remark Reporter Gene Primary Identifier Pattern Subcellular Localization
    Expr2937 Both ahr-1:GFP reporters are expressed during embryonic and larval development. Expression is first detected in two cells 260 min after the first cleavage. By midembryogenesis (pre-comma stage), 14 cells express the pJ360 ahr-1:GFP fusion gene. At the 2-fold stage of embryogenesis, two cells express ahr-1:GFP in the tail, and the remaining fluorescing cells are in the forming head. During the first larval stage. ahr-1:GFP is expressed in 28 neurons, several blast cells, and two phasmid socket cells. The neurons that express ahr-1:GFP include ALNR/ALNL, AQR/PQR, AVM/PVM, BDUR/BDUL, PLMR/PLML, PLNR/PLNL, PHCL/PHCR, PVWL/PVWR, RMEL/RMER, SDQR/SDQL, and URXR/URXL. The T.pa, T.ppa, and T.ppp blast cells in the tail express ahr-1:GFP, as do all of their descendents, including the PHso1 and PHso2 phasmid socket cells. ahr-1:GFP is also expressed in the MI and I3 neurons in the pharynx and the G2 and W blast cells. Four additional cells in the head express ahr-1:GFP, tentatively identified as the ASK and RIP neurons. The pJ360 construct includes the entire ahr-1 genomic sequence, and transgenic animals express this fusion protein in a subset of neuronal nuclei. The pHT102 transgene lacks most of the ahr-1 coding sequence and labels axons as well as nuclei.
Data observed from, atIs13, atEx32 and atEx35.   Expr970 In comma to 1.5-fold stage embryos, the nhr-25::GFP are expressed in the V cells, P cells and hyp7. Expression also observed in the head and tail hypodermal cells of embryos. The earliest expression is at ~250-300 min post fertilization. atEx32 and atEx35 L1 animals exhibited consistent reporter expression in the hyp7 and P cell nuclei. The P cell expression was very strong at hatching. GFP expression in the P cell and hyp7 decreased during mid-L1, but frequently increased late L1. At hatching no expression in observed in the V cells. In mid L1 the V cells divided and the anterior daughters begin to express GFP as they join the syncytium. Strong expression is also seen in the head and tail hypodermal nuclei of L1 larva. Expression in the hypodermal nuclei of older larva stages is similar to that in the L1. GFP expression decreases markedly in adults. GFP is also observed in other ectodermal cells. In L1, expression is observed in the G2(excretory pore) cell and in a cell tentatively identified as the W neuroblast. In older larva, expression continues in G2 but disappears in the W lineage once the cells divides to generate neurons. Beginning in L2, GFP is expressed in the region around the rectum. Expression is also occasionally observed in the anterior pharynx, in the nuclei with positions consistent with those of the pharyngeal epithelial cells. nuclei
This information was extracted from published material (Archana Sharma-Oates, Andrew Mounsey and Ian A. Hope).   Expr631 LacZ staining is first detected in both Z1.pp and Z4.aa and is seen in Z1.ppp, Z4.aaa, Z1.ppa and Z4.aap. All four cells continue to express until the middle of the L2 stage during AC/VU decision and then expression is restricted to either Z1.ppp or Z4.aaa, with expression observed in presumptive VU (Z1.ppa and Z4.aap) but not in presumptive AC. This is consistent with GFP fluorescence observed. lin-12::lacZ staining disappears in the VUs; staining reappears in their daughters just after division. The level of lin-12::lacZ expression from early L2 until the Vulva Precursor Cells (VPCs) divide in the L3 is uniform in all 6 VPCs. lin-12::lacZ reporter is also expressed in all twelve of the granddaughters of the VUs. There appears to be a time during the early L3 stage when the VUs no longer express the lin-12::lacZ reporter gene. During L3, beta-gal activity is detected in two sheath cells in each gonad arm: sheath cells No. 1 (Z1.paaa, Z1.apa, Z4.pap, and Z4.appp). During early L4 stage, eight more sheath cells express the transgene: sheath cells No. 2 (Z1.paapaaa, Z1.appaaa, Z4.paappp, and Z4.appappp) and sheath cells No. 3 (Z1.paapaap, Z1.appaap, Z4.paappa, and Z4.appappa). Staining is almost always observed in sheath cells No. 1 in the L3 and L4 stages as well as in the young adult. Only a subset of animals consistently express the reporter gene in sheath cells No. 2. Staining in sheath cells No. 3 are never detected once the nuclei have migrated for out along the arm. Staining is observed in 12 sheath cells during the late L3/early L4 stages soon after they are born. As the cells move out the gonad arm, staining is only detected in one member of pair No. 1 and one member of pair No. 2 in each arm. Staining is detected during L4 in up to eight spermathecal cells [Z1.papaa(a/p) (d/v), Z4.apaaa(a/p)(d/v), Z1.pappp(a/p)(d/v) and Z4.apapp(a/p)(d/v)] in each arm. The progenitors of these cells [Z1.papaa(a/p), Z4.apaaa(a/p), Z1.pappp(a/p) and Z4.apapp(a/p)] also express the reporter gene. During the L2 and early L3 stages, lin-12::lacZ is expressed in all six VPCs. LacZ staining is detected in all 12 daughters of the VPCs (Pn.px stage), and is then restricted to P5.ppa, P5.ppp, P7.paa and P7.pap. High level of GFP expression is seen in the daughters of P5.p and P7.p but not in the daughters of p6.p. Variable level of GFP is detected in the daughters of P3,p, P4.p and P8.p. In the VPC granddaughters GFP is detected in P5.ppa, P5.ppp, P7.paa and P7.pap. Weak staining is detected in two of the granddaughters of P5.p and P7.p, the L cells, but is undetected in their progeny. Expression is always detected in the other two granddaughters of P5.p and P7.p, the N and T cells. There is no staining in the T descendants of P6.p cells. The N cells do not divide and staining is detected in both N cells throughout vulval morphogenesis in the L4 stage and in young adults. Staining can be detected in the T daughters in the L4 stage and in young adults. The parents of the SM/bm precursor cells; M.vlp and M.vrp and their dorsal equivalents, M.dlp and M.drp all express lin-12 reporter gene. After division of the parent cells, the SM/bm precursor cells and their dorsal equivalents also express the reporter gene as do the sisters of these cells. Expression is detected in both the SM and bm cells on the left and right sides of the animal. Staining persists in these cells on the ventral side even after it is no longer detectable in the cells of the dorsal side. [M.vrpa, M.vlpa, M.vrpp, M.vlpp, M.drpa, M.dla, M.drpp and M.dlpp]. Expression is detected in a discrete subset of cells during embryogenesis. Staining was only observed in pairs or groups of cells from the 28-cell stage to about the 400-cell stage. Two of the cells that express the gene in the >300-cell embryo may be the intestinal valve cells. Expression is seen in a discrete subset of cells in the ventral nerve cord of L1 larvae. There are three small nuclei that stain in the head region that may be G2, W, the excretory duct cell, G1 or the neuroblast that is the equipotent equivalent of the excretory cell. Staining was observed in the excretory cell.  
Temporal description   Expr11524   By antibody staining, MCM-4 was found to be expressed in dividing cells during all stages of development in wild-type animals. Embryos showed the highest levels of MCM-4 expression, in agreement with the fact that more than half of the somatic cells are formed during embryogenesis. Even dauer larvae that had been arrested in cell division for 2 weeks still contained detectable MCM-4 protein levels. These results suggest that a pool of MCM-4 is retained during prolonged periods of quiescence, so that MCM-4 might function in the re-initiation of DNA synthesis when conditions improve. Immunostaining of wild-type animals for MCM-4 showed strong nuclear staining in the gonad, embryos and postembryonic lineages. MCM-4 was detectable in sperm and accumulated during oocyte maturation in the nucleus but did not show overlap with the condensed chromosomes in diakinesis of meiotic prophase. MCM-4 was not chromatin-associated during MeiosisI of the fertilized oocyte, and the first polar body did not contain MCM-4. This finding is consistent with the absence of S phase between Meiosis I and -II. The second polar body and maternal pronucleus received some MCM-4. Subsequently, embryonic cells in interphase showed strong nuclear staining. In prophase, MCM-4 localization did not overlap with the condensing chromosomes. Upon nuclear envelope degradation, MCM-4 became diffusely localized throughout the cell and clearly did not co-localize with the metaphase-aligned chromosomes. MCM-4 remained cytoplasmic at the onset of anaphase; however, chromatin association became apparent in late anaphase. These data show that chromosome association of MCM-4 is tightly controlled, consistent with origin licensing taking place at the end of mitosis and disappearing during S phase. Similar observations were made during larval divisions. Matching the MCM-4::mCherry reporter, endogenous MCM-4 expression was detectable prior to and during mitosis. Staining of synchronized L1 animals revealed the timing of MCM-4 expression, which in general preceded mitosis by 1-2 h. After 5 h of L1 development at 20 C, MCM-4 immunostaining was predominantly detected in the epithelial seam cells, Q neuroblast daughters and gonad primordium. The somatic gonad precursor cells Z1 and Z4 showed nuclear staining, while the mitotically arrested germline precursor cells Z2 and Z3 showed diffuse cytoplasmic staining. At 6 hours of L1 development, the mesoblast (M) also stained strongly as well as the most anterior ventral cord precursors cells (W, P1 and P2). Subsequently at 7 h, additional P cells showed nuclear MCM-4 expression, which became apparent prior to migration of the nucleus into the ventral nerve cord. At 8 h of L1 development, the intestinal nuclei showed MCM-4 expression, which preceded nuclear division by at least 4 h. At subsequent time points, daughter cells that continued division, such as the Pn.a and M descendants, retained strong nuclear staining. L2 animals stained at 16 h of larval development showed strong MCM-4 expression in the gonad, the H1.a, H2.p, V1-6.p and T.ap seam cells and, weakly, the intestinal nuclei (data not shown). Importantly, MCM-4 staining did not overlap with DNA in prophase and metaphase, while in late anaphase co-localization with the chromosomes was clearly detectable. Similar to our observations with the MCM-4::mCherry reporter, we could not detect any asymmetry in MCM-4 segregation. Thus, even if only one daughter cell continued cell division, both daughters received a similar amount of MCM-4in mitosis. Furthermore, the MCM-4protein became undetectable during quiescence, i.e. the P3.p-P8.p daughter cells that resume DNA replication in the L3 stage did not show detectable expression in the L2 stage. Altogether, our reporter gene and antibody staining analysis show that MCM-4 is dynamically expressed and localized during larval development as well as during different phases of the cell cycle. Expression of MCM-4::mCherry was specifically induced in all postembryonic blast cell lineages well before mitotic entry, at the expected time of S-phase induction. The fusion protein localized to the cell nucleus until degradation of the nuclear envelope in prometaphase, at which point MCM-4 became diffusely localized through the cell. This diffuse localization indicates that MCM-4 is not chromatin-associated in mitosis. MCM-4::mCherry did not disappear upon completion of mitosis but was segregated to both daughter cells. Even cells that permanently withdrew from cell division, such as the motor neurons of the ventral nerve cord, initially retained MCM-4::mCherry expression. However, this expression subsequently disappeared in differentiated cells as well as in cells that temporarily arrested cell division, such as the Pn.p vulval precursor cells in the ventral cord. These experiments indicate that mcm-4 is transcriptionally activated at approximately the time of G1/S transition and that MCM-4 protein is segregated to both daughter cells in mitosis.
    Expr10312 Inferred expression. EPIC dataset. http://epic.gs.washington.edu/ Large-scale cellular resolution compendium of gene expression dynamics throughout development. This reporter was inferred to be expressing in this cell or one of its embryonic progenitor cells as described below. To generate a compact description of which cells express a particular reporter irrespective of time, the authors defined a metric "peak expression" for each of the 671 terminal ("leaf") cells born during embryogenesis. For each of these cells, the peak expression is the maximal reporter intensity observed in that cell or any of its ancestors; this has the effect of transposing earlier expression forward in time to the terminal set of cells. This metric allows straightforward comparisons of genes' cellular and lineal expression overlap, even when the expression occurs with different timing and despite differences in the precise time point that curation ended in different movies, at the cost of ignoring the temporal dynamics of expression, a topic that requires separate treatment. For simplicity, the authors use the term "expressing cells" to mean the number of leaf cells (of 671) with peak expression greater than background (2000 intensity units) and at least 10% of the maximum expression in that embryo. Quantitative expression data for all cells are located here: ftp://caltech.wormbase.org/pub/wormbase/datasets-published/murray2012/  
    Expr10307 Inferred expression. EPIC dataset. http://epic.gs.washington.edu/ Large-scale cellular resolution compendium of gene expression dynamics throughout development. This reporter was inferred to be expressing in this cell or one of its embryonic progenitor cells as described below. To generate a compact description of which cells express a particular reporter irrespective of time, the authors defined a metric "peak expression" for each of the 671 terminal ("leaf") cells born during embryogenesis. For each of these cells, the peak expression is the maximal reporter intensity observed in that cell or any of its ancestors; this has the effect of transposing earlier expression forward in time to the terminal set of cells. This metric allows straightforward comparisons of genes' cellular and lineal expression overlap, even when the expression occurs with different timing and despite differences in the precise time point that curation ended in different movies, at the cost of ignoring the temporal dynamics of expression, a topic that requires separate treatment. For simplicity, the authors use the term "expressing cells" to mean the number of leaf cells (of 671) with peak expression greater than background (2000 intensity units) and at least 10% of the maximum expression in that embryo. Quantitative expression data for all cells are located here: ftp://caltech.wormbase.org/pub/wormbase/datasets-published/murray2012/  
    Expr10214 Inferred expression. EPIC dataset. http://epic.gs.washington.edu/ Large-scale cellular resolution compendium of gene expression dynamics throughout development. This reporter was inferred to be expressing in this cell or one of its embryonic progenitor cells as described below. To generate a compact description of which cells express a particular reporter irrespective of time, the authors defined a metric "peak expression" for each of the 671 terminal ("leaf") cells born during embryogenesis. For each of these cells, the peak expression is the maximal reporter intensity observed in that cell or any of its ancestors; this has the effect of transposing earlier expression forward in time to the terminal set of cells. This metric allows straightforward comparisons of genes' cellular and lineal expression overlap, even when the expression occurs with different timing and despite differences in the precise time point that curation ended in different movies, at the cost of ignoring the temporal dynamics of expression, a topic that requires separate treatment. For simplicity, the authors use the term "expressing cells" to mean the number of leaf cells (of 671) with peak expression greater than background (2000 intensity units) and at least 10% of the maximum expression in that embryo. Quantitative expression data for all cells are located here: ftp://caltech.wormbase.org/pub/wormbase/datasets-published/murray2012/  
Antibodies to N-terminal 331 amino acids of LIN-26.   Expr587 In early embryonic stages (28-350 cells), cells react with LIN_26 antibodies are ectoblasts. LIN-26 protein continuously present throughout embryonic, larval and adult life in all hypodermal cells, and in all of the glial-like socket and sheath cells associated with ciliated sensory organs. LIN-26 protein was also present in blast cells G1, Q and W. Expression in all three of these cells cease as they divided. Strong expression in Z1 and Z4 in young L1 larvae, weak expression in all cells in L2 larvae except the distal tip cells, and in the uterine cells of L4 larvae and adults. In all cases, antibodies against LIN-26 protein stained the nucleus.
    Expr13452 LIN-12::GFP is expressed in the presumptive G2 and W but not in the presumptive duct or pore at ventral enclosure.  

12 Life Stages

Remark Definition Other Name Public Name Primary Identifier
  The whole period of embryogenesis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, from the formation of an egg until hatching. embryo Ce WBls:0000003
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 620-800min(hatch) after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. A stage after elongation is over. The last stage of embryogenesis. Also called pre-hatched embryo, late embryo or morphogenetic embryo. fully-elongated embryo Ce WBls:0000021
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 350-620min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. The stage that embryo starts elongation until elongation is over. elongating embryo Ce WBls:0000015
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 290-350min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Proliferate from 421 cells to 560 cells. The stage when embryo just finished gastrulation and is enclosing. enclosing embryo Ce WBls:0000013
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 100-290min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Proliferate from 28 cells to 421 cells. Referring to the whole period of gastrulation. gastrulating embryo Ce WBls:0000010
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 0-350min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Proliferate from 1 cell to 560 cells. From start of first cleavage until cleavage is over. proliferating embryo Ce WBls:0000004
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 390-420min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. The shape of embryo looks like a comma. A stage between bean embryo and 1.5-fold embryo. comma embryo Ce WBls:0000017
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 460-520min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. The shape of embryo is elongated and double fold. A stage between 1.5-fold embryo and 3-fold embryo. 2-fold embryo Ce WBls:0000019
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 520-620min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. The shape of embryo is elongated and tripple fold. A stage between 2-fold embryo and fully-elongated embryo. Also called pretzel embryo or pretzel stage. 3-fold embryo Ce WBls:0000020
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 420-460min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. The shape of embryo is elongated and fold back 50%. A stage between comma embryo and 2-fold embryo. 1.5-fold embryo Ce WBls:0000018
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 350-390min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Cell number remains at ~560 cells, with some new cells generated and some cells go through programmed cell death. Emrbyo elongation started but have not formed comma shape yet. The shape of embryo looks like a lima bean. A stage right before comma embryo. Also called lima embryo or lima bean stage. bean embryo Ce WBls:0000016
  The C. elegans life stage spanning 210-350min after first cleavage at 20 Centigrade. Proliferate from 421 cells to 560 cells. The stage before the fast cleavage of cells finishes. late cleavage stage embryo Ce WBls:0000014

2 Parents

Definition Name Synonym Primary Identifier
precursor cell destined to divide some time after hatching. blast cell   WBbt:0006783
embryonic cell ABprapaap   WBbt:0006624