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Jiang HS, Ghose P, Han HF, Wu YZ, Tsai YY, Lin HC, Tseng WC, Wu JC, Shaham S, Wu YC. BLMP-1 promotes developmental cell death in C. elegans by timely repression of ced-9 transcription. Development 2021; 148:dev193995. [PMID: 34541605 PMCID: PMC8572009 DOI: 10.1242/dev.193995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/17/2020] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Programmed cell death (PCD) is a common cell fate in metazoan development. PCD effectors are extensively studied, but how they are temporally regulated is less understood. Here, we report a mechanism controlling tail-spike cell death onset during Caenorhabditis elegans development. We show that the zinc-finger transcription factor BLMP-1, which controls larval development timing, also regulates embryonic tail-spike cell death initiation. BLMP-1 functions upstream of CED-9 and in parallel to DRE-1, another CED-9 and tail-spike cell death regulator. BLMP-1 expression is detected in the tail-spike cell shortly after the cell is born, and blmp-1 mutations promote ced-9-dependent tail-spike cell survival. BLMP-1 binds ced-9 gene regulatory sequences, and inhibits ced-9 transcription just before cell-death onset. BLMP-1 and DRE-1 function together to regulate developmental timing, and their mammalian homologs regulate B-lymphocyte fate. Our results, therefore, identify roles for developmental timing genes in cell-death initiation, and suggest conservation of these functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hang-Shiang Jiang
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Piya Ghose
- Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
- Department of Biology, The University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019, USA
| | - Hsiao-Fen Han
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Yun-Zhe Wu
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Ya-Yin Tsai
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Huang-Chin Lin
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Wei-Chin Tseng
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
| | - Jui-Ching Wu
- Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences and Medical Biotechnology, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 100229, Taiwan
| | - Shai Shaham
- Laboratory of Developmental Genetics, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY 10065, USA
| | - Yi-Chun Wu
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
- Department of Life Science, Center for Systems Biology, and Research Center for Developmental Biology and Regenerative Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
- Institute of Atomic and Molecular Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, 106216, Taiwan
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