Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Members of the GATA-4, -5, and -6 subfamily of transcription factors are co-expressed with the homeoprotein Nkx 2.5 in the precardiac mesoderm during the earliest stages of its specification and are known to be important determinants of cardiac gene expression. Ample evidence suggests that GATA factors and Nkx 2.5 cross-regulate each other's expression; however, the temporal order of the expression of these transcription factors in vivo remains unresolved, and thus precise definition of the role of the products of the genes they transcribe in early development has been difficult to assess. We employed P19 CL6 mouse embryonic carcinoma cells as a model to investigate this problem, because these cells, like embryonic stem cells, can be induced to differentiate along multiple lineages. Here we demonstrate that when P19 CL6 cells are induced to differentiate to a cardiogenic lineage, the expression of GATA-4 and GATA-6 is up-regulated prior to the transcriptional activation of Nkx 2.5. Moreover, over-expression of GATA-4 or -6 at the time of Nkx 2.5 induction results in a significant up-regulation of endogenous Nkx 2.5 transcription. Finally, it is known that a Nkx-dependent enhancer is necessary for GATA-6 expression within cardiomyocytes of the developing mouse embryo. We demonstrate that within undifferentiated P19 CL6 cells, GATA-6 expression is subject to active repression by a novel upstream element that possesses binding sites for factors involved in transcriptional repression that are conserved between mammalian species.

Original publication

DOI

10.1089/scd.2005.14.425

Type

Journal article

Journal

Stem Cells Dev

Publication Date

08/2005

Volume

14

Pages

425 - 439

Keywords

Animals, Base Sequence, Cell Differentiation, Cell Line, Cell Line, Tumor, Cell Lineage, Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase, DNA, Complementary, DNA-Binding Proteins, Embryo, Mammalian, Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors, GATA4 Transcription Factor, GATA6 Transcription Factor, Gene Expression Regulation, Genes, Reporter, Homeobox Protein Nkx-2.5, Homeodomain Proteins, Humans, Luciferases, Mesoderm, Mice, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Molecular Sequence Data, Promoter Regions, Genetic, Protein Isoforms, Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction, Stem Cells, Time Factors, Transcription Factors, Transcription, Genetic, Transcriptional Activation, Transfection, Up-Regulation