Abstract
Purpose :
Cell fate determination and proliferation need to be coordinated during development of multicellular organisms, and this requires tissue-specific gene transcription. Transcriptional co-regulators mediate between sequence-specific transcription factors and the transcriptional machinery to promote tissue-specific gene transcription. Current evidence suggests that the sequence-specific transcription factor, Teashirt (Tsh), and the transcriptional co-regulator, C-Terminal Binding Protein (CtBP), have roles in coordinating cell fate determination and proliferation during eye development in the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster. Whether these proteins interact physically during eye development has yet to be determined.
Methods :
We have used genetic and molecular tools to address this question. Over-expressing tsh in proliferating eye precursors results in loss of eye tissue, and loss-of-function mutations in CtBP suppress the effects of over-expressing tsh, suggesting that tsh and CtBP function in the same process during eye development. Furthermore, in vitro Glutathione-S-Transferase (GST)-pulldowns detect direct physical interactions between Tsh and CtBP, and co-immunoprecipitations from lysates of proliferating eye precursors confirm the interaction in vivo.
Results :
These results suggest that Tsh and CtBP interact physically during eye development and that their interaction is important for proper eye development.
Conclusions :
Future experiments using this GFP-tagged tsh and mass spectrometry will help to identify any proteins complexed with Tsh/CtBP and provide further insight into to how this complex regulates proliferation during the development of the eye.
This is a 2021 ARVO Annual Meeting abstract.