LEV-8 is first detected in L1 animals in a single pair of neurons in the head, approximately midway along the isthmus. It is also expressed in the PVT interneuron situated in the lumbar ganglion, at the rear of the animal. By L4, LEV-8 is expressed in all six DD motor neurons in the ventral nerve cord. As well as expression in several neuronal cell types, LEV-8 is expressed in body wall and in uterine muscles UV1 and UV2. Expression in the body wall was strongest anteriorly, which accords with the higher level of resistance exhibited by the head muscles of
lev-8(
x15) mutant worms. In the adult worm, LEV-8 is expressed in many neurons in the anterior nervous system. One of the more prominent of these is a single cell in the dorsal ganglion, ALA. LEV-8 is expressed in the IL and OL socket cells but not the neurons themselves.