Click here to close Hello! We notice that you are using Internet Explorer, which is not supported by Xenbase and may cause the site to display incorrectly. We suggest using a current version of Chrome, FireFox, or Safari.
XB-ART-45532
Dev Biol 2012 May 15;3652:363-75. doi: 10.1016/j.ydbio.2012.03.004.
Show Gene links Show Anatomy links

Specific domains of FoxD4/5 activate and repress neural transcription factor genes to control the progression of immature neural ectoderm to differentiating neural plate.

Neilson KM , Klein SL , Mhaske P , Mood K , Daar IO , Moody SA .


???displayArticle.abstract???
FoxD4/5, a forkhead transcription factor, plays a critical role in establishing and maintaining the embryonic neural ectoderm. It both up-regulates genes that maintain a proliferative, immature neural ectoderm and down-regulates genes that promote the transition to a differentiating neural plate. We constructed deletion and mutant versions of FoxD4/5 to determine which domains are functionally responsible for these opposite activities, which regulate the critical developmental transition of neural precursors to neural progenitors to differentiating neural plate cells. Our results show that up-regulation of genes that maintain immature neural precursors (gem, zic2) requires the Acidic blob (AB) region in the N-terminal portion of the protein, indicating that the AB is the transactivating domain. Additionally, down-regulation of those genes that promote the transition to neural progenitors (sox) and those that lead to neural differentiation (zic, irx) involves: 1) an interaction with the Groucho co-repressor at the Eh-1 motif in the C-terminus; and 2) sequence downstream of this motif. Finally, the ability of FoxD4/5 to induce the ectopic expression of neural precursor genes in the ventral ectoderm also involves both the AB region and the Eh-1 motif; FoxD4/5 accomplishes ectopic neural induction by both activating neural precursor genes and repressing BMP signaling and epidermal genes. This study identifies the specific, conserved domains of the FoxD4/5 protein that allow this single transcription factor to regulate a network of genes that controls the transition of a proliferative neural ectodermal population to a committed neural plate population poised to begin differentiation.

???displayArticle.pubmedLink??? 22425621
???displayArticle.pmcLink??? PMC3679181
???displayArticle.link??? Dev Biol
???displayArticle.grants??? [+]

Species referenced: Xenopus
Genes referenced: foxd4l1.1 gal.2 gem irx1 irx2 irx3 isyna1 myc sox11 sox15 sox2 sox3 tbx2 tfap2a tle4 zic1 zic2 zic3
???displayArticle.morpholinos??? tle4 MO1


???attribute.lit??? ???displayArticles.show???
References [+] :
Bellefroid, Xiro3 encodes a Xenopus homolog of the Drosophila Iroquois genes and functions in neural specification. 1998, Pubmed, Xenbase