The world's first wiki where authorship really matters (Nature Genetics, 2008). Due credit and reputation for authors. Imagine a global collaborative knowledge base for original thoughts. Search thousands of articles and collaborate with scientists around the globe.

wikigene or wiki gene protein drug chemical gene disease author authorship tracking collaborative publishing evolutionary knowledge reputation system wiki2.0 global collaboration genes proteins drugs chemicals diseases compound
Hoffmann, R. A wiki for the life sciences where authorship matters. Nature Genetics (2008)
 
 
 
 
 

Neural inhibition by c-Jun as a synergizing factor in bone morphogenetic protein 4 signaling.

The transcription factor, activator protein 1 ( AP-1) complexes (c-Jun and c-Fos heterodimers) has been shown to interact with transforming growth factor beta signaling in mammalian cells and Drosophila embryo. Here we show that c-Jun alone is involved in the anti-neuralizing activity of bone morphogenetic protein 4, a transforming growth factor beta superfamily member, in Xenopus neurogenesis. Co-injection of mRNAs encoding c-jun and a dominant negative bone morphogenetic protein receptor completely inhibits dominant negative bone morphogenetic protein receptor-induced neuralization and reverses the epidermal fate in the animal cap. Surprisingly, a dominant negative c-Jun does not induce neural tissue in the animal cap, but it synergizes with dominant negative bone morphogenetic protein receptor for neural induction. Temporal analysis using a dexamethasone-inducible c-Jun shows that exogenous c-Jun activity must be turned on before or at stage 11 to fulfill the anti-neuralizing effect. Neural inhibition by c-Jun does not occur until stage 13 suggesting that c-Jun probably acts by suppressing neural maintenance rather than neural initiation. This is also supported by the fact that c-Jun does not inhibit expression of the neural-initializing gene Zic-r1 but the neural cofactor Sox2, and that ectopic expression of Sox2 attenuates the anti-neuralizing effect of c-Jun. Finally, we display that the c-Jun effect is enhanced by an auto-regulatory loop between c-Jun and bone morphogenetic protein. These studies suggest that c-Jun/ AP-1 is a converging point in both the fibroblast growth factor and transforming growth factor beta signaling pathways. Based on our findings, we propose that c-Jun synergizes with bone morphogenetic protein 4 signaling to inhibit neural development in Xenopus ectoderm.[1]

References

  1. Neural inhibition by c-Jun as a synergizing factor in bone morphogenetic protein 4 signaling. Peng, Y., Xu, R.H., Mei, J.M., Li, X.P., Yan, D., Kung, H.F., Phang, J.M. Neuroscience (2002) [Pubmed]
 
WikiGenes - Universities