RESUMO
The bHLH transcription factor Hand1 is essential for placentation and cardiac morphogenesis in the developing embryo. Here we implicate Hand1 as a molecular switch that determines whether a trophoblast stem cell continues to proliferate or commits to differentiation. We identify a novel interaction of Hand1 with a protein that contains an I-mfa (inhibitor of myogenic factor) domain that anchors Hand1 in the nucleolus where it negatively regulates Hand1 activity. In the trophoblast stem-cell line Rcho-1, nucleolar sequestration of Hand1 accompanies sustained cell proliferation and renewal, whereas release of Hand1 into the nucleus leads to its activation, thus committing cells to a differentiated giant-cell fate. Site-specific phosphorylation is required for nucleolar release of Hand1, for its dimerization and biological function, and this is mediated by the non-canonical polo-like kinase Plk4 (Sak). Sak is co-expressed in Rcho-1 cells, localizes to the nucleolus during G2 and phosphorylates Hand1 as a requirement for trophoblast stem-cell commitment to a giant-cell fate. This study defines a novel cellular mechanism for regulating Hand1 that is a crucial step in the stem-cell differentiation pathway.
Assuntos
Fatores de Transcrição Hélice-Alça-Hélice Básicos/metabolismo , Diferenciação Celular , Nucléolo Celular/metabolismo , Células-Tronco/metabolismo , Animais , Fatores de Transcrição Hélice-Alça-Hélice Básicos/genética , Fatores de Transcrição Hélice-Alça-Hélice Básicos/fisiologia , Northern Blotting , Western Blotting , Proliferação de Células , Regulação da Expressão Gênica no Desenvolvimento , Células Gigantes/citologia , Células Gigantes/metabolismo , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/genética , Proteínas de Fluorescência Verde/metabolismo , Imunoprecipitação , Camundongos , Fatores de Regulação Miogênica/metabolismo , Células NIH 3T3 , Fosforilação , Ligação Proteica , Proteína Fosfatase 2 , Proteínas Serina-Treonina Quinases/metabolismo , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/metabolismo , Reação em Cadeia da Polimerase Via Transcriptase Reversa , Células-Tronco/citologia , Trofoblastos/citologia , Trofoblastos/metabolismo , Técnicas do Sistema de Duplo-HíbridoRESUMO
The bHLH transcription factor Hand1 is essential for placentation and cardiac morphogenesis but how its developmental activity is regulated is largely unknown. We recently showed that Hand1 is sequestered in the nucleoli of rodent trophoblast stem (TS) cells by the I-mfa domain-containing protein HICp40 and that this is associated with their proliferation and continuing self-renewal. However when these cells commit to differentiate into trophoblast giant (TG) cells, Hand1 is phosphorylated by the polo-like kinase Plk4 (Sak) and released into the nucleus to activate downstream target genes. This event underlies the release of Hand1 from the nucleolus and represents the 'molecular switch' that promotes mitotic cell cycle exit and the onset of endoreduplication. In this brief discussion we examine the wider implications of these findings and address some of the unanswered questions that remain.