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GBF-dependent family genes morphologically suppress the partially active Dictyostelium STATa strain

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Abstract

Transcription factor Dd-STATa, a functional Dictyostelium homologue of metazoan signal transducers and activators of transcription proteins, is necessary for culmination during development. We have isolated more than 18 putative multicopy suppressors of Dd-STATa using genetic screening. One was hssA gene, whose expression is known to be G-box-binding-factor-dependent and which was specific to prestalk A (pstA) cells, where Dd-STATa is activated. Also, hssA mRNA was expressed in pstA cells in the Dd-STATa-null mutant. At least 40 hssA-related genes are present in the genome and constitute a multigene family. The tagged HssA protein was translated; hssA encodes an unusually high-glycine-serine-rich small protein (8.37 kDa), which has strong homology to previously reported cyclic-adenosine-monophosphate-inducible 2C and 7E proteins. Overexpression of hssA mRNA as well as frame-shifted versions of hssA RNA suppressed the phenotype of the partially active Dd-STATa strain, suggesting that translation is not necessary for suppression. Although overexpression of prespore-specific genes among the family did not suppress the parental phenotype, prestalk-specific family members did. Although overexpression of the hssA did not revert the expression of Dd-STATa target genes, and although its suppression mechanism remains unknown, morphological reversion implies functional relationships between Dd-STATa and hssA.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Faculty of Science Special Grant for Promoting Scientific Research at Toho University to T. Kawata (301-12) and by a Grant-in-Aid from Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSTS) Fellowships for Young Scientists to N. Shimada (#17.2751). N.S. is a JSTS Research Fellow. We thank Prof. Jeffrey G. Williams for comments related to the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Toho University, 2-2-1 Miyama, Funabashi, Chiba, 274-8510, Japan

    Nao Shimada, Naoko Kanno-Tanabe, Kakeru Minemura & Takefumi Kawata

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  1. Nao Shimada
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  2. Naoko Kanno-Tanabe
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  3. Kakeru Minemura
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  4. Takefumi Kawata
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Correspondence to Takefumi Kawata.

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Communicated by M.Q. Martindale

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Shimada, N., Kanno-Tanabe, N., Minemura, K. et al. GBF-dependent family genes morphologically suppress the partially active Dictyostelium STATa strain. Dev Genes Evol 218, 55–68 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00427-008-0202-7

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