Identification and characterization of a putative basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor interacting with calcineurin in C. elegans

作     者：Lee, Soo-Ung Song, Hyun-Ok Lee, Wonhae Singaravelu, Gunasekaran Yu, Jae-Ran Park, Woo-Yoon 

作者机构：Konkuk Univ Sch Med Dept Environm & Trop Med Seoul 143701 South Korea Gwangju Inst Sci & Technol Dept Life Sci Kwangju 500712 South Korea Rutgers State Univ Waksman Inst Piscataway NJ 08854 USA Chungbuk Natl Univ Coll Med Dept Radiat Oncol Cheongju 361763 South Korea 

出 版 物：《MOLECULES AND CELLS》 (分子与细胞)

年 卷 期：2009年第28卷第5期

页      面：455-461页

核心收录：

学科分类：0710[理学-生物学] 071010[理学-生物化学与分子生物学] 07[理学] 

基　　金：Basic Atomic Energy Research Institute Ministry of Education, Science and Technology of Korea 

主　　题：basic helix-loop-helix calcineurin C. elegans egg laying HLH-11 

摘      要：Calcineurin is a Ca2+/Calmodulin activated Ser/Thr phosphatase that is well conserved from yeast to human. It is composed of catalytic subunit A (CnA) and regulatory subunit B (CnB). C. elegans homolog of CnA and CnB has been annotated to tax-6 and cnb-1, respectively and in vivo function of both genes has been intensively studied. In C. elegans, calcineurin play roles in various signaling pathways such as fertility, movement, body size regulation and serotonin-mediated egg laying. In order to understand additional signaling pathway(s) in which calcineurin functions, we screened for binding proteins of TAX-6 and found a novel binding protein, HLH-11. The HLH-11, a member of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins, is a putative counterpart of human AP4 transcription factor. Previously bHLH transcription factors have been implicated to regulate many developmental processes such as cell proliferation and differentiation, sex determination and myogenesis. However, the in vivo function of hlh-11 is largely unknown. Here, we show that hlh-11 is expressed in pharynx, intestine, nerve cords, anal depressor and vuvla muscles where calcineurin is also expressed. Mutant analyses reveal that hlh-11 may have role(s) in regulating body size and reproduction. More interestingly, genetic epistasis suggests that hlh-11 may function to regulate serotonin-mediated egg laying at the downstream of tax-6.