tbx-37 Antibody

Overview of TBX-37 in C. elegans Development

TBX-37 and its paralog TBX-38 are redundant T-box transcription factors critical for mesoderm induction in C. elegans embryos. They act downstream of GLP-1/Notch signaling to distinguish cell fates between sister blastomeres ABa and ABp . Key functions include:

• Mesodermal induction: TBX-37/38 enable ABa descendants to adopt mesodermal fates in response to Notch signaling from the MS blastomere .

• Temporal regulation: Their expression is restricted to early embryonic stages (8–32 ABa cell stage) and is absent in ABp descendants due to Notch-mediated repression .

• Transcriptional priming: TBX-37/38 bind to the lsy-6 locus early, priming it for later activation by CHE-1 in ASE neurons .

Genetic and Molecular Insights

Functional Redundancy

• TBX-37 and TBX-38 are nearly identical in sequence and fully redundant .

• Simultaneous deletion of both genes causes severe morphogenesis defects, including pharynx malformation .

Detection Methods for TBX-37 Protein

While the search results do not describe a specific TBX-37 antibody, studies employed alternative methods:

• GFP-tagged endogenous TBX-37: CRISPR-Cas9 was used to generate N-terminal GFP fusions for ChIP-seq and live imaging .

• Immunostaining: Early studies detected TBX-37/38 protein at the 8–16 ABa stages via immunostaining, though sensitivity limitations were noted .

Implications for Antibody Development

A TBX-37-specific antibody would need to:

1. Distinguish TBX-37 from TBX-38: Their high sequence similarity (~95%) necessitates epitope targeting of divergent regions.

2. Capture transient expression: TBX-37 is detectable only during early embryogenesis (90–180 minutes post-fertilization) .

3. Validate specificity: Use tbx-37/tbx-38 double mutants as negative controls.

Research Gaps and Opportunities

• No commercial or peer-reviewed references to a TBX-37 antibody exist in the provided sources.

• Current studies rely on genetic tagging (e.g., GFP) rather than immunoassays for TBX-37 detection .

• Antibody development could enable spatial mapping of TBX-37 protein in fixed embryos or biochemical analyses (e.g., co-IP).