Mef2A, a homologue of animal Mef2 transcription factors, regulates cell differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum.
Mef2A, a homologue of animal Mef2 transcription factors, regulates cell differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum.
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DOI：
10.1186/1471-213x-13-12
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发表时间：
2013-04-11
影响因子：
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通讯作者：
Sastre L
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Galardi-Castilla M;Fernandez-Aguado I;Suarez T;Sastre L
来自MADS盒家族的转录因子在细胞分化和发育中起相关作用，包括动物SRF（血清反应因子）和MEF 2（肌细胞增强因子2）蛋白。社会性阿米巴Dictyosteelium discoideum含有四个编码MADS盒转录因子的基因，其中两个编码与SRF更相似的蛋白质，另外两个编码与MEF 2动物因子更相似的蛋白质。这篇文章描述了编码MEF 2相关蛋白的两个基因之一的生物学功能，该基因被称为mef 2A。该基因在生长细胞中在两个交替启动子的转录控制下表达，并且其表达在前孢子细胞发育期间被诱导。产生其中mef 2A基因已部分缺失的突变菌株以研究其生物学功能。突变菌株在以细菌为食时表现出降低的生长，并且能够发育和形成子实体，但孢子产量显著降低。发育标记的研究表明，前孢子细胞分化受损的突变株。当突变体和野生型细胞在嵌合体中发育时，突变孢子在子实体中的代表性不足。突变体细胞也不能在体外形成孢子。此外，突变体细胞也表现出较差的贡献，形成的尖端组织者和上部区域的蛞蝓和顶点结构。与这些观察结果一致，突变体和野生型菌株在发育过程中转录的基因的比较表明，前茎基因的表达增强，而前孢子基因的表达下降的mef 2A-菌株。我们的数据表明mef 2A在D.盘状突和调节前孢子和前柄基因的表达。
Transcription factors from the MADS-box family play a relevant role in cell differentiation and development and include the animal SRF (serum response factor) and MEF2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2) proteins. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum contains four genes coding for MADS-box transcription factors, two of these genes code for proteins that are more similar to SRF, and the other two code for proteins that are more similar to MEF2 animal factors. The biological function of one of the two genes that codes for MEF2-related proteins, a gene known as mef2A, is described in this article. This gene is expressed under the transcriptional control of two alternative promoters in growing cells, and its expression is induced during development in prespore cells. Mutant strains where the mef2A gene has been partially deleted were generated to study its biological function. The mutant strains showed reduced growth when feeding on bacteria and were able to develop and form fruiting bodies, but spore production was significantly reduced. A study of developmental markers showed that prespore cells differentiation was impaired in the mutant strains. When mutant and wild-type cells were set to develop in chimeras, mutant spores were underrepresented in the fruiting bodies. The mutant cells were also unable to form spores in vitro. In addition, mutant cells also showed a poor contribution to the formation of the tip-organizer and the upper region of slugs and culminant structures. In agreement with these observations, a comparison of the genes transcribed by mutant and wild-type strains during development indicated that prestalk gene expression was enhanced, while prespore gene expression decreased in the mef2A- strain. Our data shows that mef2A plays a role in cell differentiation in D. discoideum and modulates the expression of prespore and prestalk genes.