High impact information on T-box

• Here we report that, through its guanylate kinase domain, CASK interacts with Tbr-1, a T-box transcription factor that is involved in forebrain development [1].
• We have cloned mls-1 and shown that the product is a member of the T-box family of transcriptional regulators [2].
• Caenorhabditis elegans mab-9 mutants are defective in hindgut and male tail development because of cell fate transformations in two posterior blast cells, B and F. We have cloned mab-9 and show that it encodes a member of the T-box family of transcriptional regulators [3].
• We report that the MED-1,2 target gene tbx-35, which encodes a T-box transcription factor, specifies the MS fate [4].
• Specification of the C. elegans MS blastomere by the T-box factor TBX-35 [4].

Biological context of T-box

• Role of T-box gene tbx-2 for anterior foregut muscle development in C. elegans [5].
• Thus, during posterior patterning in C. elegans, there are multiple interactions between T-box genes and the vab-7 homeobox gene [6].
• A regulatory network of T-box genes and the even-skipped homologue vab-7 controls patterning and morphogenesis in C. elegans [6].
• Transcription factors containing the DNA binding motif, T-box, play an important role in the embryonic development of metazoans [7].
• The T-box genes constitute a family of transcriptional regulator genes that have been implicated in a variety of developmental processes ranging from the formation of germ layers to the regionalization of the central nervous system [8].

Anatomical context of T-box

• We find that the T-box transcription factor tbx-2 is essential to form anterior pharyngeal muscles from the ABa blastomere [5].
• The T-box transcription factors TBX-37 and TBX-38 link GLP-1/Notch signaling to mesoderm induction in C. elegans embryos [9].
• The T-box factor TBX-2 and the SUMO conjugating enzyme UBC-9 are required for ABa-derived pharyngeal muscle in C. elegans [10].
• tbx20, a new vertebrate T-box gene expressed in the cranial motor neurons and developing cardiovascular structures in zebrafish [8].
• Caenorhabditis elegans T-box genes tbx-9 and tbx-8 are required for formation of hypodermis and body-wall muscle in embryogenesis [7].

Regulatory relationships of T-box

• We further show that vab-7 itself represses the T-box gene mab-9 in posterior cells [6].
• Here we show the signal includes discrete, trans-acting autosomal signal elements (ASEs) that counter XSEs to coordinately control both sex determination and dosage compensation. sea-1, the first autosomal signal element, encodes a T-box transcription factor that opposes XSEs by activating transcription of xol-1 [11].

Other interactions of T-box

• In the absence of tbx-2 function, ABa-derived cells initiate development normally: they receive glp-1/Notch signaling cues, activate the T-box gene TBX-38 and express the organ selector gene PHA-4/FoxA [5].
• In addition, a third T-box gene, tbx-30, acts to repress vab-7 expression in the anterior of embryos [6].
• A pair of homologous T-box transcription factors (tbx-8 and tbx-9) is found to interact in both C. elegans and C. briggsae, indicating that their compensatory function is conserved [12].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of T-box

• The human PCR product showed 89% DNA sequence identity and 100% peptide sequence identity to the corresponding T-box segment of Mm-Tbx2 [13].

References