The Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of human PHF5a shows a muscle-specific expression domain and is essential for C. elegans morphogenetic development.

We have recently described a novel human and murine multigene-family that is highly conserved during evolution and shows a PHD-finger-like domain present in the deduced protein sequences. Here, we describe the cloning and characterization of the Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog of human PHF5a. Transgenic phf-5::yfp-reporter techniques in C. elegans identified temporal C. elegans phf-5 expression being restricted to late C. elegans development. The phf-5::yfp expression starts within the morphogenetic phase of embryonic development and lasts to the stage of adult worms. Spatial phf-5 expression is muscle-specific with an expression in the developing pharynx, in body wall muscular structures, and in the anal muscles. By phf-5 RNAi we further demonstrated that PHF-5 is essential in the morphogenetic phase of C. elegans embryonic development as well as in young larvae. In contrast, phf-5 RNAi does not show an evident phenotype to adult worms. Taken together, this is the first report providing evidence for a tissue and stage-specific expression of a PHF5a ortholog, named phf-5, in C. elegans while our data further suggest an essential role of the encoded PHF-5 protein in morphogenetic development and muscle function.