Sensitivity of proneural genes to lateral inhibition affects the pattern of primary neurons in Xenopus embryos

Development ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 122 (7) ◽  
pp. 2295-2301 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Chitnis ◽  
C. Kintner

We have compared the roles of XASH-3 and NeuroD, two basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, in the formation of primary neurons in early Xenopus embryos. When ectopically expressed in Xenopus embryos, XASH-3 and NeuroD induce ectopic primary neurons in very different spatial patterns. We show that the pattern of primary neurons induced by XASH-3 and NeuroD can be accounted for by a difference in their sensitivity to inhibitory interactions mediated by the neurogenic genes, X-Delta-1 and X-Notch-1. Both NeuroD and XASH-3 promote the expression of the inhibitory ligand, X-Delta-1. However, XASH-3 appears to be sensitive to the inhibitory effects of X-Delta-1 while NeuroD is much less so. Consequently only a subset of cells that ectopically express XASH-3 eventually form neurons, giving a scattered pattern, while the ectopic expression of NeuroD leads to a relatively dense pattern of ectopic neurons. We propose that differences in the sensitivity of XASH-3 and NeuroD to lateral inhibition play an important role during their respective roles in neuronal determination and differentiation.

Development ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 124 (22) ◽  
pp. 4557-4569 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Blader ◽  
N. Fischer ◽  
G. Gradwohl ◽  
F. Guillemont ◽  
U. Strahle

Zebrafish neurogenin1 encodes a basic helix-loop-helix protein which shares structural and functional characteristics with proneural genes of Drosophila melanogaster. neurogenin1 is expressed in the early neural plate in domains comprising more cells than the primary neurons known to develop from these regions and its expression is modulated by Delta/Notch signalling, suggesting that it is a target of lateral inhibition. Misexpression of neurogenin1 in the embryo results in development of ectopic neurons. Markers for different neuronal subtypes are not ectopically expressed in the same patterns in neurogenin1-injected embryos suggesting that the final identity of the ectopically induced neurons is modulated by local cues. Induction of ectopic motor neurons by neurogeninl requires coexpression of a dominant negative regulatory subunit of protein kinase A, an intracellular transducer of hedgehog signals. Moreover, the pattern of endogenous neurogenin1 expression in the neural plate is expanded in response to elevated levels of Hedgehog (Hh) signalling or abolished as a result of inhibition of Hh signalling. Together these data suggest that Hh signals regulate neurogenin1 expression and subsequently modulate the type of neurons produced by Neurogenin1 activity.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 105 (11) ◽  
pp. 4272-4281 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miranda Buitenhuis ◽  
Hanneke W. M. van Deutekom ◽  
Liesbeth P. Verhagen ◽  
Anders Castor ◽  
Sten Eirik W. Jacobsen ◽  
...  

Abstract Inhibitor of DNA binding (Id) proteins function as inhibitors of members of the basic helix-loop-helix family of transcription factors and have been demonstrated to play an important role in regulating lymphopoiesis. However, the role of these proteins in regulation of myelopoiesis is currently unclear. In this study, we have investigated the role of Id1 and Id2 in the regulation of granulopoiesis. Id1 expression was initially up-regulated during early granulopoiesis, which was then followed by a decrease in expression during final maturation. In contrast, Id2 expression was up-regulated in terminally differentiated granulocytes. In order to determine whether Id expression plays a critical role in regulating granulopoiesis, Id1 and Id2 were ectopically expressed in CD34+ cells by retroviral transduction. Our experiments demonstrate that constitutive expression of Id1 inhibits eosinophil development, whereas in contrast neutrophil differentiation was modestly enhanced. Constitutive Id2 expression accelerates final maturation of both eosinophils and neutrophils, whereas inhibition of Id2 expression blocks differentiation of both lineages. Transplantation of β2-microglobulin-/- nonobese diabetic severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mice with CD34+ cells ectopically expressing Id1 resulted in enhanced neutrophil development, whereas ectopic expression of Id2 induced both eosinophil and neutrophil development. These data demonstrate that both Id1 and Id2 play a critical, although differential role in granulopoiesis.


2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 6418-6428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shelley Lane ◽  
Song Zhou ◽  
Ting Pan ◽  
Qian Dai ◽  
Haoping Liu

ABSTRACT Candida albicans undergoes a morphogenetic switch from budding yeast to hyphal growth form in response to a variety of stimuli and growth conditions. Multiple signaling pathways, including a Cph1-mediated mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and an Efg1-mediated cyclic AMP/protein kinase A pathway, regulate the transition. Here we report the identification of a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor of the Myc subfamily (Cph2) by its ability to promote pseudohyphal growth inSaccharomyces cerevisiae. Like sterol response element binding protein 1, Cph2 has a Tyr instead of a conserved Arg in the basic DNA binding region. Cph2 regulates hyphal development in C. albicans, ascph2/cph2 mutant strains show medium-specific impairment in hyphal development and in the induction of hypha-specific genes. However, many hypha-specific genes do not have potential Cph2 binding sites in their upstream regions. Interestingly, upstream sequences of all known hypha-specific genes are found to contain potential binding sites for Tec1, a regulator of hyphal development. Northern analysis shows that TEC1 transcription is highest in the medium in which cph2/cph2 displays a defect in hyphal development, and Cph2 is necessary for this transcriptional induction of TEC1. In vitro gel mobility shift experiments show that Cph2 directly binds to the two sterol regulatory element 1-like elements upstream of TEC1. Furthermore, the ectopic expression of TEC1 suppresses the defect ofcph2/cph2 in hyphal development. Therefore, the function of Cph2 in hyphal transcription is mediated, in part, through Tec1. We further show that this function of Cph2 is independent of the Cph1- and Efg1-mediated pathways.


2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 1866-1873 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren Snider ◽  
Hilary Thirlwell ◽  
Jeffrey R. Miller ◽  
Randall T. Moon ◽  
Mark Groudine ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We have determined that I-mfa, an inhibitor of several basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins, and XIC, a Xenopusortholog of human I-mf domain-containing protein that shares a highly conserved cysteine-rich C-terminal domain with I-mfa, inhibit the activity and DNA binding of the HMG box transcription factor XTcf3. Ectopic expression of I-mfa or XIC in early Xenopus embryos inhibited dorsal axis specification, the expression of the Tcf3/β-catenin-regulated genessiamois and Xnr3, and the ability of β-catenin to activate reporter constructs driven by Lef/Tcf binding sites. I-mfa domain proteins can regulate both the Wnt signaling pathway and a subset of bHLH proteins, possibly coordinating the activities of these two critical developmental pathways.


Development ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 129 (14) ◽  
pp. 3393-3402 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth M. Cadigan ◽  
Austin D. Jou ◽  
Roel Nusse

In the developing eye, wingless activity represses proneural gene expression (and thus interommatidial bristle formation) and positions the morphogenetic furrow by blocking its initiation in the dorsal and ventral regions of the presumptive eye. We provide evidence that wingless mediates both effects, at least in part, through repression of the basic helix-loop-helix protein Daughterless. daughterless is required for high proneural gene expression and furrow progression. Ectopic expression of wingless blocks Daughterless expression in the proneural clusters. This repression, and that of furrow progression, can be mimicked by an activated form of armadillo and blocked by a dominant negative form of pangolin/TCF. Placing daughterless under the control of a heterologous promoter blocks the ability of ectopic wingless to inhibit bristle formation and furrow progression. hedgehog and decapentapleigic could not rescue the wingless furrow progression block, indicating that wingless acts downstream of these genes. In contrast, Atonal and Scute, which are thought to heterodimerize with Daughterless to promote furrow progression and bristle formation, respectively, can block ectopic wingless action. These results are summarized in a model where daughterless is a major, but probably not the only, target of wingless action in the eye.


1974 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 95-97 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Kirschfeld ◽  
B. Lutz

Abstract Lateral Inhibition, Compound Eye, Fly Lateral inhibition is a common phenomenon in the eyes of vertebrates as well as of invertebrates. Indications of lateral inhibitory interactions in dipteran eyes have been found by means of electro-physiological techniques*' 2. It was not possible,


Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 1795-1795
Author(s):  
Virginie Deleuze ◽  
Elias Chalhoub ◽  
Rawan El-Hajj ◽  
Christiane Dohet ◽  
Mikael Le Clech ◽  
...  

Abstract The basic helix-loop-helix protein TAL-1/SCL, essential for the formation of the hematopoietic system, is also required for vascular development and more particularly for embryonic angiogenesis. We previously reported that TAL-1 acts as a positive factor for post-natal angiogenesis by stimulating endothelial morphogenesis. To understand how TAL-1 modulates angiogenesis, we investigated the functional consequences of TAL-1 silencing, mediated by small-interfering RNAs, in human primary endothelial cells (ECs). We found that TAL-1 knockdown impaired in vitro EC tubulomorphogenesis (in 2-D on Matrigel or 3-D in collagen I gel), with the notable absence of cell-cell contacts, a prerequisite for morphogenesis initiation. This cellular deficiency was associated with a dramatic reduction in the vascular-endothelial (VE)-cadherin at intercellular junctions, the major component of endothelial adherens junctions. In contrast, PECAM (or CD31) was present at cell-cell junctions at the same levels as control cells. Importantly, silencing of two known TAL-1-partners in hematopoietic cells, E47 or LMO2, produce the same effects as TAL-1. Accordingly, silencing of TAL-1, as well as E47 and LMO2, provoked down-regulation of VE-cadherin at both the mRNA and protein levels. Transient transfection experiments in HUVECs showed that TAL-1 and E47 regulate the VE-cadherin promoter through a specialized E-box element. Finally, endogenous VE-cadherin transcription could be directly activated in non-endothelial HEK-293 cells that neither express TAL-1 or LMO2, by the sole concomitant ectopic expression of TAL-1, E47 and LMO2. Overall, our data demonstrate that a multiprotein complex containing at least TAL-1, LMO2 and E47 act upstream of the VE-cadherin gene. We are currently performing chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) to investigate whether the TAL-1-containing complex binds in vivo the VE-cadherin promoter. This study identifies VE-cadherin as an upstream TAL-1-target gene in the endothelial lineage, and provides a first clue in TAL-1 function in the control of angiogenesis.


Blood ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 116 (21) ◽  
pp. 1026-1026
Author(s):  
Erica A. Lehotzky ◽  
Mark Y. Chiang

Abstract Abstract 1026 Despite numerous advances in the past few decades, treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (ALL) remains a common and considerable challenge. Further efforts to define the molecular lesions that drive ALL are needed to improve clinical management. The Hox subfamily of T-cell ALL (T-ALL) represents 30–40% of pediatric and adult cases. TLX1/HOX11 is the prototypical member of the Hox group. To generate a resource for developing targeted therapies for Hox T-ALLs, we developed a doxycycline-regulated mouse model of Tlx1-initiated T-ALL. Dysregulated thymic expression of Tlx1 induces T-ALL after ∼5-7 months with penetrance of 15–60%. The lymphoblasts are arrested at the early CD4+/CD8+/CD24hi stage of T-cell development, similar to human T-ALLs of the TLX1 subtype. Spontaneous activation of the Notch1 oncogene occurred in the tumors. In about two-thirds of samples, Notch was activated through acquired mutations in the heterodimerization and PEST domains that resemble the Notch1 mutations found in human patients. Inhibition of Notch signaling with g-secretase inhibitors completely abrogated cell line growth and induced apoptosis. Notch inhibition also transiently delayed leukemia progression by ∼17 days in vivo. In contrast, suppression of Tlx1 expression had more moderate inhibitory effects on cell line growth in vitro. However, suppression of Tlx1 expression in transgenic mice transiently delayed leukemia progression by ∼11 days. Tlx1 suppression had the strongest inhibitory effects on expression of CCR7 and lymph node size. These effects were fully reversed with ectopic expression of Tlx1. These data show that Tlx1 can convert normal thymocytes into leukemia cells, but the leukemia cells are not fully dependent on continued Tlx1 expression. The leukemia cells recruit secondary factors and pathways such as Notch and c-Myc to sustain growth and survival. Our study highlights a strong resiliency of T-ALL cells to both Tlx1 and Notch inhibition. Our study has important implications for targeting these pathways for the treatment of T-ALL. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


1974 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 579-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert B. Barlow ◽  
G. David Lange

Receptor units in the eye of the horseshoe crab are more sensitive to lateral inhibition at some levels of excitation than they are at others. As a result, the steady-state inhibition of the response of a given unit is not directly proportional to the response levels of neighboring units. This effect may be represented by the introduction of a nonlinearity in the Hartline-Ratliff system of equations. The nonlinear inhibitory effect appears to increase the operating range of the receptor units.


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