Biomedical subjects

Sergio Ottolenghi

Publications and source records attributed to Sergio Ottolenghi.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Acetylation and MAPK phosphorylation cooperate to regulate the degradation of active GATA-1.

Regulation of transcription requires mechanisms to both activate and terminate transcription factor activity. GATA-1 is a key haemopoietic transcription factor whose activity is increased by acetylation. We show here that acetylated GATA-1 is targeted for degradation via the ubiquitin/proteasome pathway. Acetylation positively signals ubiquitination, suggesting that activation by acetylation simultaneously marks GATA-1 for degradation. Promoter-specific MAPK phosphorylation then cooperates with acetylation to execute protein loss. The requirement for both modifications is novel and suggests a way by which degradation of the active protein can be specifically regulated in response to external phosphorylation-mediated signalling. As many transcription factors are activated by acetylation, we suggest that this might be a general mechanism to control transcription factor activity.

Acetylation↗

PubMed2006

Functional interaction of CP2 with GATA-1 in the regulation of erythroid promoters.

We observed that binding sites for the ubiquitously expressed transcription factor CP2 were present in regulatory regions of multiple erythroid genes. In these regions, the CP2 binding site was adjacent to a site for the erythroid factor GATA-1. Using three such regulatory regions (from genes encoding the transcription factors GATA-1, EKLF, and p45 NF-E2), we demonstrated the functional importance of the adjacent CP2/GATA-1 sites. In particular, CP2 binds to the GATA-1 HS2 enhancer, generating a ternary complex with GATA-1 and DNA. Mutations in the CP2 consensus greatly impaired HS2 activity in transient transfection assays with K562 cells. Similar results were obtained by transfection of EKLF and p45 NF-E2 mutant constructs. Chromatin immunoprecipitation with K562 cells showed that CP2 binds in vivo to all three regulatory elements and that both GATA-1 and CP2 were present on the same GATA-1 and EKLF regulatory elements. Adjacent CP2/GATA-1 sites may represent a novel module for erythroid expression of a number of genes. Additionally, coimmunoprecipitation and glutathione S-transferase pull-down experiments demonstrated a physical interaction between GATA-1 and CP2. This may contribute to the functional cooperation between these factors and provide an explanation for the important role of ubiquitous CP2 in the regulation of erythroid genes.

Amino Acid Motifs↗

PubMed2004

Conserved POU binding DNA sites in the Sox2 upstream enhancer regulate gene expression in embryonic and neural stem cells.

The Sox2 transcription factor is expressed early in the stem cells of the blastocyst inner cell mass and, later, in neural stem cells. We previously identified a Sox2 5'-regulatory region directing transgene expression to the inner cell mass and, later, to neural stem cells and precursors of the forebrain. Here, we identify a core enhancer element able to specify transgene expression in forebrain neural precursors of mouse embryos, and we show that the same core element efficiently activates transcription in inner cell mass-derived embryonic stem (ES) cells. Mutation of POU factor binding sites, able to recognize the neural factors Brn1 and Brn2, shows that these sites contribute to transgene activity in neural cells. The same sites are also essential for activity in ES cells, where they bind different members of the POU family, including Oct4, as shown by gel shift assays and chromatin immunoprecipitation with anti-Oct4 antibodies. Our findings indicate a role for the same POU binding motifs in Sox2 transgene regulation in both ES and neural precursor cells. Oct4 might play a role in the regulation of Sox2 in ES (inner cell mass) cells and, possibly, at the transition between inner cell mass and neural cells, before recruitment of neural POU factors such as Brn1 and Brn2.

5' Flanking Region↗

PubMed2004

Sox2 deficiency causes neurodegeneration and impaired neurogenesis in the adult mouse brain.

In many species, the Sox2 transcription factor is a marker of the nervous system from the beginning of its development, and we have previously shown that Sox2 is expressed in embryonic neural stem cells. It is also expressed in, and is essential for, totipotent inner cell mass stem cells and other multipotent cell lineages, and its ablation causes early embryonic lethality. To investigate the role of Sox2 in the nervous system, we generated different mouse mutant alleles: a null allele (Sox2beta-geo 'knock-in'), and a regulatory mutant allele (Sox2DeltaENH), in which a neural cell-specific enhancer is deleted. Sox2 is expressed in embryonic early neural precursors of the ventricular zone and, in the adult, in ependyma (a descendant of the ventricular zone). It is also expressed in the vast majority of dividing precursors in the neurogenic regions, and in a small proportion of differentiated neurones, particularly in the thalamus, striatum and septum. Compound Sox2(beta-geo/DeltaENH) heterozygotes show important cerebral malformations, with parenchymal loss and ventricle enlargement, and L-dopa-rescuable circling behaviour and epilepsy. We observed striking abnormalities in neurones; degeneration and cytoplasmic protein aggregates, a feature common to diverse human neurodegenerative diseases, are observed in thalamus, striatum and septum. Furthermore, ependymal cells show ciliary loss and pathological lipid inclusions. Finally, precursor cell proliferation and the generation of new neurones in adult neurogenic regions are greatly decreased, and GFAP/nestin-positive hippocampal cells, which include the earliest neurogenic precursors, are strikingly diminished. These findings highlight a crucial and unexpected role for Sox2 in the maintenance of neurones in selected brain areas, and suggest a contribution of neural cell proliferative defects to the pathological phenotype.

Alleles↗

PubMed2004

Stem cell-mediated muscle regeneration is enhanced by local isoform of insulin-like growth factor 1.

We investigated the mechanism whereby expression of a transgene encoding a locally acting isoform of insulin-like growth factor 1 (mIGF-1) enhances repair of skeletal muscle damage. Increased recruitment of proliferating bone marrow cells to injured MLC/mIgf-1 transgenic muscles was accompanied by elevated bone marrow stem cell production in response to distal trauma. Regenerating MLC/mIgf-1 transgenic muscles contained increased cell populations expressing stem cell markers, exhibited accelerated myogenic differentiation, expressed markers of regeneration and readily converted cocultured bone marrow to muscle. These data implicate mIGF-1 as a powerful enhancer of the regeneration response, mediating the recruitment of bone marrow cells to sites of tissue damage and augmenting local repair mechanisms.

Animals↗

PubMed2004

Involvement of mitogen-activated protein kinase in the cytokine-regulated phosphorylation of transcription factor GATA-1.

Gene-targeting experiments in transgenic mice have revealed an essential role for GATA-1 in the normal differentiation and development of erythroid cells. GATA-1 is phosphorylated in vivo on seven of its serine residues; the regulation and function of GATA-1 phosphorylation, however, is not understood. Here we demonstrate a role for MAP kinase (MAPK) signalling in the control of GATA-1 phosphorylation. We show that EGF-induced MAPK signalling results in the phosphorylation of ectopically expressed GATA-1 in COS cells. This phosphorylation can be positively or negatively regulated by genetic manipulation of the MAPK pathway through expression of constitutively activated, or dominant-negative, mutants of MAPK kinase (MAPKK), an upstream regulator of MAPK activity. In vitro phosphorylation experiments using purified MAPK and either recombinant GATA-1 or synthetic GATA-1 peptides suggest that GATA-1 is a MAPK substrate with MAPK phosphorylation occurring primarily on Ser26 and Ser178. We also show that GATA-1 is phosphorylated in factor-dependent haemopoietic progenitor cells in response to cytokine-induced signalling. Through the further use of a dominant-negative MAPKK mutant as well as chemical inhibitors of specific MAPKs, we identify ERK as an in vivo GATA-1 kinase. Finally, we demonstrate that mutation of serines 26 and 178 compromises the ability of GATA-1 to interact with the LIM-only protein LMO2 when both proteins are expressed in COS cells. These data implicate receptor-mediated signalling through the MAPK pathway as a control point in the regulation of transcription factor GATA-1.

Amino Acid Substitution↗

PubMed2003

Deletion of a negatively acting sequence in a chimeric GATA-1 enhancer-long terminal repeat greatly increases retrovirally mediated erythroid expression.

The locus control region of the beta-globin gene cluster has been used previously to direct erythroid expression of globin genes from retroviral vectors for the purpose of gene therapy. Short erythroid regulatory elements represent a potentially valuable alternative to the locus control region. Among them, the GATA-1 enhancer HS2 was used to replace the retroviral enhancer within the 3'-long terminal repeat (LTR) of the retroviral vector SFCM, converting it into an erythroid-specific regulatory element. In this work, we have functionally studied an additional GATA-1 enhancer, HS1. HS1 participates in the transcriptional autoregulation of GATA-1 through an essential GATA-binding site that is footprinted in vivo. In this work we identified within HS1 a new in vivo footprinted region, and we showed that this sequence indeed binds a nuclear protein in vitro. Addition of HS1 to HS2 within the LTR of SFCM significantly improves the expression of a reporter gene. The deletion of the newly identified footprinted sequence in the retroviral construct further increases expression up to a level almost equal to that of the wild type retroviral LTR, without loss of erythroid specificity, suggesting that this sequence may act as a negative regulatory element. An improved vector backbone, MDeltaN, allows even better expression from the new GATA cassette. These results suggest that substantial improvement of overall expression can be achieved by the combination of multiple changes in both regulatory elements and vectors.

3' Untranslated Regions↗

PubMed2003

Kit regulatory elements required for expression in developing hematopoietic and germ cell lineages.

The Kit (White) gene encodes the transmembrane receptor of stem cell factor/Kit ligand (KL) and is essential for the normal development/maintenance of pluripotent primordial germ cells (PGCs), hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), melanoblasts, and some of their descendants. The molecular basis for the transcriptional regulation of Kit during development of these important cell types is unknown. We investigated Kit regulation in hematopoietic cells and PGCs. We identified 6 DNase I hypersensitive sites (HS1-HS6) within the promoter and first intron of the mouse Kit gene and developed mouse lines expressing transgenic green fluorescent protein (GFP) under the control of these regulatory elements. A construct driven by the Kit promoter and including all 6 HS sites is highly expressed during mouse development in Kit+ cells including PGCs and hematopoietic progenitors (erythroid blast-forming units and mixed colony-forming units). In contrast, the Kit promoter alone (comprising HS1) is sufficient to drive low-level GFP expression in PGCs, but unable to function in hematopoietic cells. Hematopoietic expression further requires the addition of the intronproximal HS2 fragment; HS2 also greatly potentiates the activity in PGCs. Thus, HS2 acts as an enhancer integrating transcriptional signals common to 2 developmentally unrelated stem cell/progenitor lineages. Optimal hematopoietic expression further requires HS3-HS6.

Animals↗

PubMed2003

Induction of globin mRNA expression by interleukin-3 in a stem cell factor-dependent SV-40 T-antigen-immortalized multipotent hematopoietic cell line.

Erythropoiesis requires the stepwise action on immature progenitors of several growth factors, including stem cell factor (SCF), interleukin 3 (IL-3), and erythropoietin (Epo). Epo is required to sustain proliferation and survival of committed progenitors and might further modulate the level of expression of several erythroid genes, including globin genes. Here we report a new SCF-dependent immortalized mouse progenitor cell line (GATA-1 ts SCF) that can also grow in either Epo or IL-3 as the sole growth factor. When grown in SCF, these cells show an "open" chromatin structure of the beta-globin LCR, but do not significantly express globin. However, Epo or IL-3 induce globin expression and are required for its maintainance. This effect of IL-3 is unexpected as IL-3 was previously reported either to be unable to induce hemoglobinization, or even to antagonize it. This suggests that GATA-1 ts SCF cells may have progressed to a stage in which globin genes are already poised for expression and only require signal(s) that can be elicited by either Epo or IL-3. Through the use of inhibitors, we suggest that p38 may be one of the molecules modulating induction and maintenance of globin expression.

Animals↗