| Protein name | Gene name | Organism | UniProt ID | Protein domains | Molecular function | Subcellular localization | Biological processes | Key interaction partners | Phenotype of loss | RNA-binding specificity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zinc finger protein MEX-6 | mex-6 (ORF AH6.5) | *Caenorhabditis elegans* | Q09436 | Tandem CCCH-type zinc finger / ZFP36-like RNA-binding domains; functionally treated as a MEX-5 paralog with related RNA-binding properties (pqac-00000003, pqac-00000030, pqac-00000032) | RNA-binding polarity mediator and translational regulator acting partially redundantly with MEX-5; promotes soma-specific translation of targets such as *zif-1* and contributes to degradation or exclusion of germline determinants from somatic blastomeres (pqac-00000001, pqac-00000004, pqac-00000013) | Maternally supplied cytoplasmic protein; initially broadly distributed, then enriched in the anterior cytoplasm of the 1-cell embryo and inherited preferentially by anterior blastomeres; later also associated with posterior germline/P-granule-rich lineages in broader MEX-5/6 descriptions (pqac-00000022, pqac-00000023, pqac-00000024, pqac-00000003) | Asymmetric cell division, embryonic polarity, germline specification, anti-germ-plasm activity in somatic lineages, P granule segregation/disassembly, maternal mRNA turnover, and cell fate specification (pqac-00000000, pqac-00000002, pqac-00000013, pqac-00000014) | MEX-5 (partially redundant paralog), PAR-1 (upstream kinase controlling gradient behavior), PLK-1/PLK-2 (physical association via polo-box domains), MEX-3, PIE-1, POS-1, MEX-1, ZIF-1 pathway components (pqac-00000001, pqac-00000005, pqac-00000025, pqac-00000026, pqac-00000028) | *mex-6* single mutants are largely viable with relatively mild effects, but loss or depletion of *mex-6* strongly enhances *mex-5* defects, causing more severe embryonic patterning and cell fate abnormalities; thus MEX-6 has a partially redundant backup role (pqac-00000003) | Direct specificity is best defined for the close paralog MEX-5: broad affinity for poly-U/uridine-rich 3'UTR sequences, including UAUU- and AU-rich motifs, with 6-8 uridines in an ~8-nt window; MEX-6 is inferred to have similar specificity because it is highly related and partially redundant (pqac-00000030, pqac-00000033, pqac-00000003) |


*Table: This table summarizes the core identity, function, localization, pathway role, and phenotype of the C. elegans RNA-binding protein MEX-6. It is useful as a compact reference for functional annotation grounded in primary and review evidence.*