Int. J. Dev. Biol. 57: 865 - 872 (2013)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.130163jk

Vol 57, Issue 11-12

AP-1^c-Jun/FosB mediates xFoxD5b expression in Xenopus early developmental neurogenesis

Original Article | Published: 20 February 2014

Jaeho Yoon¹, Jung-Ho Kim¹, Ok-Joo Lee¹, Sung-Young Lee^1,2, Seung-Hwan Lee¹, Jae-Bong Park¹, Jae-Yong Lee¹, Sung-Chan Kim*^,1 and Jaebong Kim*^,1

^{1Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Cell Differenciation and Aging, College of Medicine, Hallym University, ChunCheon, Kangwon-Do, Republic of Korea, 2WCU, Department of Molecular Medicine and Biopharmaceutical Sciences, Graduate School of Convergence Sciences and Technology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea}

Abstract

AP-1 (activator protein-1) is composed of Jun and Fos proteins and functions in cell proliferation, apoptosis and differentiation. Previous studies have demonstrated that different AP-1 complexes participate in the determination of various cell fates. However, the role of different AP-1 complexes during early vertebrate development is not yet fully understood. In the present study, we demonstrate that AP-1^c-Jun/FosB regulates neurogenesis via FoxD5b expression. We show that FoxD5 was induced by the inhibition of BMP and that FoxD5b plays roles in neurogenesis. Additionally, we show that the FoxD5b promoter region within -1336 and -1316 contains an AP-1 binding site, which is required for the transcriptional regulation of FoxD5b and is induced by the inhibition of BMP signaling in animal cap explants. Moreover, c-Jun, a component of AP-1, directly binds to the AP-1 binding site of the FoxD5b promoter and induces FoxD5b expression cooperatively with FosB, but not with c-Fos or Fra-1. Altogether, these results suggest that AP-1^c-Jun/FosB may play a role in neurogenesis via the induction of FoxD5b expression during early vertebrate development.

Keywords

AP-1^c-Jun/FosB, FoxD5b, BMP, Neurogenesis, Xenopus