Zanetti, Simone Meola, Marco Bochud, Arlette Puoti, Alessandro 2011-04-12 In Caenorhabditis elegans, germ cells develop as spermatids in the larva and as oocytes in the adult. Such fundamentally different gametes are produced through a fine-tuned balance between feminizing and masculinizing genes. For example, the switch to oogenesis requires repression of the fem-3 mRNA through the mog genes. Here we report on the cloning and characterization of the sex determination gene mog-2. MOG-2 is the worm homolog of spliceosomal protein U2A′. We found that MOG-2 is expressed in most nuclei of somatic and germ cells. In addition to its role in sex determination, mog-2 is required for meiosis. Moreover, MOG-2 binds to U2B″/RNP-3 in the absence of RNA. We also show that MOG-2 associates with the U2 snRNA in the absence of RNP-3. Therefore, we propose that MOG-2 is a bona fide component of the U2 snRNP. Albeit not being required for general pre-mRNA splicing, MOG-2 increases the splicing efficiency to a cryptic splice site that is located at the 5′ end of the exon. application/pdf https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/302155 https://folia.unifr.ch/documents/302155/files/puo_rup.pdf eng info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1016/j.ydbio.2011.04.001 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess License undefined Developmental Biology. - 2011, vol. 354, no. 2, p. 232-241 MOG-2 Pre-mRNA splicing Caenorhabditis elegans Sex determination Germ line Meiosis info:eu-repo/classification/udc/57 Role of the C. elegans U2 snRNP protein MOG-2 in sex determination, meiosis, and splice site selection http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501