Factors which regulate differentiation of the adrenal cortex and gonads from their common primordium.

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The previous study on expression of Ad4BP/SF-1 in rat embryos demonstrated that steroid-hormone-producing cells of adrenal cortex and gonads are derived from a common precursor named the "adreno-genital primordium". The analysis of the differentiation process of the primordium revealed that it consists of 4 steps where the interaction between steroidogenic precursor cells and primordial germ cells seems to play an important role. The aim of this research project is to address the question of the molecular mechanism that underlies the differentiation of the adreno-genital primordium to an adrenocortical and a gonadal primordia. Pre-adipocyte factor 1 (Pref-1), alternatively named ZOG, was found to be expressed in the adreno-genital primordium and continued to be expressed only in the adrenocortical primordium but not in the gonadal primordium. In the adult adrenal cortex, the expression of Pref-1 is restricted to the zona glomerulosa. From adrenal enucleation experiments, Pref-1 was suggested to function as a differentiation suppressor in the adrenocortical cells as well as in pre-adipocytes. Analyses of Pref-1 gene promoter with co-transfection assays have shown that WT1 down-regulated the transcription of Pref-1 gene. The continued expression and the down-regulation of Pref-1 gene may be essential for the formation of the adrenocortical and gonadal primordia, respectively.