ArticleBMC developmental biology2013
Mef2A, a homologue of animal Mef2 transcription factors, regulates cell differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum.
Article in BMC developmental biology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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7 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.
- The other giant: functional significance and divergence of Type I MADS-box genes in the evolution of land plants.Journal of experimental botany · 2026Review
- Myocyte enhancer factor 2A orchestrates vascular redox homeostasis via direct transcriptional activation of SIRT1.Acta biochimica et biophysica Sinica · 2025Article
- Updated Phylogeny and Protein Structure Predictions Revise the Hypothesis on the Origin of MADS-box Transcription Factors in Land Plants.Molecular biology and evolution · 2023Article
- Role of epigenetics in unicellular to multicellular transition in Dictyostelium.Genome biology · 2021Article
- Article
- Biological Activity of the Alternative Promoters of the Dictyostelium discoideum Adenylyl Cyclase A Gene.PloS one · 2016Article
- Classification and expression analyses of homeobox genes from Dictyostelium discoideum.Journal of biosciences · 2015Article
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4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
backgroundTranscription factors from the MADS-box family play a relevant role in cell differentiation and development and include the animal SRF (serum response factor) and MEF2 (myocyte enhancer factor 2) proteins. The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum contains four genes coding for MADS-box transcription factors, two of these genes code for proteins that are more similar to SRF, and the other two code for proteins that are more similar to MEF2 animal factors.
resultsThe biological function of one of the two genes that codes for MEF2-related proteins, a gene known as mef2A, is described in this article. This gene is expressed under the transcriptional control of two alternative promoters in growing cells, and its expression is induced during development in prespore cells. Mutant strains where the mef2A gene has been partially deleted were generated to study its biological function. The mutant strains showed reduced growth when feeding on bacteria and were able to develop and form fruiting bodies, but spore production was significantly reduced. A study of developmental markers showed that prespore cells differentiation was impaired in the mutant strains. When mutant and wild-type cells were set to develop in chimeras, mutant spores were underrepresented in the fruiting bodies. The mutant cells were also unable to form spores in vitro. In addition, mutant cells also showed a poor contribution to the formation of the tip-organizer and the upper region of slugs and culminant structures. In agreement with these observations, a comparison of the genes transcribed by mutant and wild-type strains during development indicated that prestalk gene expression was enhanced, while prespore gene expression decreased in the mef2A- strain.
conclusionsOur data shows that mef2A plays a role in cell differentiation in D. discoideum and modulates the expression of prespore and prestalk genes.
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