Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UNIPROT:O76050 (neu)
 3,969 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The earliest decision in vertebrate neural development is the acquisition of a neural identity by embryonic ectodermal cells. The default model for neural induction postulates that neural fate specification in the vertebrate embryo occurs by inhibition of epidermal inducing signals in the gastrula ectoderm. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) act as epidermal inducers, and all identified direct neural inducers block BMP signaling either intra- or extracellularly. Although the mechanism of action of the secreted neural inducers has been elucidated, the relevance of intracellular BMP inhibitors in neural induction is not clear. In order to address this issue and to identify downstream targets after BMP inhibition, we have monitored the transcriptional changes in ectodermal explants neuralized by Smad7 using a Xenopus laevis 5000-clone gastrula-stage cDNA microarray. We report the identification and initial characterization of 142 genes whose transcriptional profiles change in the neuralized explants. In order to address the potential involvement during neural induction of genes identified in the array, we performed gain-of-function studies in ectodermal explants. This approach lead to the identification of four genes that can function as neural inducers in Xenopus and three others that can synergize with known neural inducers in promoting neural fates. Based on these studies, we propose a role for post-transcriptional control of gene expression during neural induction in vertebrates and present a model whereby sustained BMP inhibition is promoted partly through the regulation of TGFbeta activated kinase (TAK1) activity by a novel TAK1-binding protein (TAB3).
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PMID:Gene profiling during neural induction in Xenopus laevis: regulation of BMP signaling by post-transcriptional mechanisms and TAB3, a novel TAK1-binding protein. 1240 22

TGF-beta signaling is indispensible for development of the nervous system since it regulates ontogenetic cell death. The recently identified TGF-beta-inducible zinc finger protein Tieg3/Klf11 belongs to the family of Sp1/Klf-like transcription factors and shares all structural and functional features with other Tieg proteins. Using the established TGF-beta-responsive oligodendroglial cell line OLI-neu, we analyzed the role of Tieg3/Klf11 in TGF-beta signaling. In this report, we show that Tieg3/Klf 11 mimics TGF-beta effects by inducing apoptotic cell death accompanied by activation of caspase-3. Moreover, we demonstrate that Tieg3/Klf11 enhances TGF-beta signaling by transcriptional repression of the inhibitory Smad7 and, thereby, disrupts the negative feedback loop of the TGF-beta signaling pathway. Loss of the N-terminal repression domains of Tieg3/Klf11 abrogates the pro-apoptotic nature of this transcription factor and abolishes the enhancement of Smad-mediated TGF-beta responses. In conclusion, we provide evidence that the recently identified transcription factor Tieg3/Klf11 is a downstream mediator of TGF-beta-induced apoptosis in the oligodendroglial cell line OLI-neu. Since other signaling molecules are able to initiate transcription of members of the Tieg family, the ability of Tieg3/Klf11 to modulate TGF-beta signaling by transcriptional inhibition of Smad7 might be an important clue for the understanding of the crosstalk between different signaling pathways.
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PMID:Tieg3/Klf11 induces apoptosis in OLI-neu cells and enhances the TGF-beta signaling pathway by transcriptional repression of Smad7. 1818 66