First published online January 16, 2004
Development 131, 302e (2004)
© The Company of Biologists Limited
Regulating heart differentiation
A major question regarding vertebrate heart development is how
transcription factors broadly expressed in the embryo regulate the tightly
restricted expression patterns of genes involved in cardiac muscle
differentiation. Latinki
and co-workers
(p. 669) address this
by examining how transcription factors interact to regulate the pan-myocardial
expression of the Xenopus gene myosin light chain 2 (XMLC2),
a sensitive marker for the onset of cardiac muscle differentiation. They show
that XMLC2 has a remarkably small 82 bp core promoter containing
several transcription factor-binding sites: two GATA-binding sites and a
low-affinity serum response factor (SRF)-binding site overlapping a
YY1-binding site. Although GATA4, SRF and YY1 are synthesised broadly in the
developing embryo, it is their overlapping expression in the heart that
apparently provides cardiac-specific expression of XMCL2. The
XMCL2 promoter also drives pan-myocardial expression of a reporter
gene in mice and the authors go on to consider the evolution of the mechanisms
that drive XMCL2 expression.
Related articles in Development:
- Transcriptional regulation of the cardiac-specific MLC2 gene during Xenopus embryonic development
- Branko V. Latinkic, Brian Cooper, Stuart Smith, Surendra Kotecha, Norma Towers, Duncan Sparrow, and Timothy J. Mohun
Development 2004 131: 669-679.
[Abstract]
[Full Text]
