The phosphorylation site located in the A region of retinoic X receptor alpha is required for the antiproliferative effect of retinoic acid (RA) and the activation of RA target genes in F9 cells

Mouse F9 embryocarcinoma cells constitute a well established cell autonomous model system for investigating retinoic acid (RA) signaling in vitro. RA induces the differentiation of F9 cells grown as monolayers into endodermal-like cells and decreases their rate of proliferation. Knock-out of the retinoic X receptor alpha (RXRalpha) gene abolishes endodermal differentiation and the induction of several endogenous RA-responsive genes. RXRalpha null cells are also drastically impaired in their antiproliferative response to RA. The role of the RXRalpha phosphorylation site located in the N-terminal A region (Ser(22)) has been investigated here by establishing cell lines re-expressing RXRalpha either wild type or mutated at the phosphorylation site (RXRalphaS22A) in a RXRalpha-null background. We show that Ser(22) is dispensable for RA-induced endodermal differentiation but is crucial for the expression of several RA-responsive genes. Ser(22) is also indispensable for the antiproliferative effect of RA and necessary for the RA-induced down-regulation of p21(CIP) and p27(KIP) CKIs proteins that are known to be involved in the control of cell cycle progression.     

Retinoic acid responsive genes in the murine hepatocyte cell line AML 12

Retinoic acid (RA) exerts profound effects on multiple aspects of vertebrate development, homeostasis and cellular differentiation. Although the liver is a major target organ for RA, no data exist on global expression of RA-responsive genes in hepatocytes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize RA-responsive genes in a simple system, by using a non-transformed hepatic cell line that is able to express sufficient amounts of endogenous retinoic acid receptors (RARs). For this purpose we used the murine non-transformed hepatocyte cell line AML12. We performed analyses using a cDNA microarray containing 39,000 murine genes. We identified 15 genes that were up-regulated > or =2 fold while 3 were down-regulated > or =2 fold after 3 h treatment with all-trans RA. Following 24 h all-trans RA treatment, 26 genes were up-regulated > or =2 fold, whereas 48 genes were down-regulated > or =2 fold. For some of the genes not previously known to be regulated by RA, we confirmed the regulation by RA using real time PCR. Our data in AML12 cells provide a simple and physiologically relevant system to study RA action, without the influence of neoplastic transformation or artificial RAR over-expression. Furthermore, our data describe novel RA responsive genes and provide insight into the role of RA in important processes such as cholesterol metabolism, bile acid secretion, and oncogenesis, among others, that can be tested in future experiments in vivo.     

Efficient Cloning of cDNAs of Retinoic Acid-Responsive Genes in P19 Embryonal Carcinoma Cells and Characterization of a Novel Mouse Gene, Stra1 (Mouse LERK-2/Eplg2)

Pluripotent mouse P19 embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells have been extensively used as a developmental model system because they can differentiate in the presence of retinoic acid (RA) into derivatives of all three germ layers depending on RA dosage and culture conditions. The expression of several genes has been shown to be induced in RA-treated P19 EC cells and, interestingly, some of these genes may play important roles during mouse embryogenesis. In view of the increasing evidence that RA is a crucial signaling molecule during vertebrate development, we have initiated a study aimed at the systematic isolation of genes whose expression is induced in P19 cells at various times after exposure to RA. We describe here an efficient differential subtractive hybridization cloning strategy which was used to identify additional RA-responsive genes in P19 cells. Fifty different cDNA fragments corresponding to RA-induced genes were isolated. Ten cDNAs represent known genes, 4 of which have already been described as RA-inducible, while the remaining 40 correspond to novel genes. Many of these cDNA sequences represent low-abundance mRNAs. Kinetic analysis of mRNA accumulation following RA treatment allowed us to characterize four classes of RA-responsive genes. We also report the sequence and expression pattern in mouse embryos and adult tissues of one of these novel RA-inducible genes, Stral, and show that it corresponds to the mouse ligand for the Cek5 receptor protein-tyrosine kinase.     

Retinoic acid is required for specification of the ventral eye field and for Rathke's pouch in the avian embryo

We have investigated the role of retinoic acid (RA) in eye development using the vitamin A deficient quail model system, which overcomes problems of retinoic acid synthesising enzyme redundancy in the embryo. In the absence of retinoic acid, the ventral optic stalk and ventral retina are missing, whereas the dorsal optic stalk and dorsal retina develop appropriately. Other ocular abnormalities observed were a thinner retina and the lack of differentiation of the lens. In an attempt to explain this, we studied the expression of various dorsally and ventrally expressed genes such as Pax2, Pax6, Tbx6, Vax2, Raldh1 and Raldh3 and noted that they were unchanged in their expression patterns. In contrast, the RA catabolising enzymes Cyp26A1 and Cyp26B1 which are known to be RA-responsive were not expressed at all in the developing eye. At much earlier stages, the expression domain of Shh in the prechordal plate was reduced, as was Nkx2.1 and we suggest a model whereby the eye field is specified according to the concentration of SHH protein that is present. We also describe another organ, Rathke's pouch which fails to develop in the absence of retinoic acid. We attribute this to the down-regulation of Bmp2, Shh and Fgf8 which are known to be involved in the induction of this structure.     

Neuronal and mesodermal differentiation of P19 embryonal carcinoma cells is characterized by expression of specific marker genes and modulated by activin and fibroblast growth factors

We have used the P19 embryonal carcinoma (EC) aggregation system as a model for early mouse development to study induction and modulation of mesodermal and neuronal differentiation. By studying the expression of marker genes for differentiated cells in this model we have shown that there is a good correlation between the differentiation direction induced in P19 EC aggregates and the expression of these genes. Expression of the neuronal gene midkine is exclusively upregulated when P19 EC cells are induced to form neurons while expression of early mesodermal genes such as Brachyury T, evx-1 , goosecoid and nodal is elevated after induction to the mesodermal pathway. In the present study we have further shown that activin A blocks the different directions of differentiation of P19 EC cells induced by retinoic acid (RA) in a dose-dependent way. To understand the mechanism behind this inhibitory action of activin A the expression of several RA-responsive genes, including the three RA receptor genes (RARα, RARβ and RARγ) was determined. Since activin has no clear effect on the expression and activity of the RAR it is very likely that this factor acts downstream of these receptors. In addition to activin, fibroblast growth factors (FGF) were shown to modulate P19 EC cell differentiation. However, in contrast to activin, FGF exclusively blocks the mesodermal differentiation of P19 EC cells by either 10⁻⁹mol/L RA or a factor produced by visceral endoderm-like cells (END-2 factor). The FGF effect is dose-independent. These results suggest an important function for RA and the END-2 factor in the induction and for activin and FGF in the modulation of specific differentiation processes in murine development.