A conserved nuclear receptor, Tailless, is required for efficient proliferation and prolonged maintenance of mushroom body progenitors in the Drosophila brain |
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Authors: | Mitsuhiko Kurusu Yasushi Maruyama Masataka Okabe Katsuo Furukubo-Tokunaga |
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Institution: | a Structural Biology Center, National Institute of Genetics, and Department of Genetics, The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, 1111 Yata, Mishima, Shizuoka 411-8540, Japan b Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8572, Japan c Department of Anatomy, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-8461, Japan |
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Abstract: | The intrinsic neurons of mushroom bodies (MBs), centers of olfactory learning in the Drosophila brain, are generated by a specific set of neuroblasts (Nbs) that are born in the embryonic stage and exhibit uninterrupted proliferation till the end of the pupal stage. Whereas MB provides a unique model to study proliferation of neural progenitors, the underlying mechanism that controls persistent activity of MB-Nbs is poorly understood. Here we show that Tailless (TLL), a conserved orphan nuclear receptor, is required for optimum proliferation activity and prolonged maintenance of MB-Nbs and ganglion mother cells (GMCs). Mutations of tll progressively impair cell cycle in MB-Nbs and cause premature loss of MB-Nbs in the early pupal stage. TLL is also expressed in MB-GMCs to prevent apoptosis and promote cell cycling. In addition, we show that ectopic expression of tll leads to brain tumors, in which Prospero, a key regulator of progenitor proliferation and differentiation, is suppressed whereas localization of molecular components involved in asymmetric Nb division is unaffected. These results as a whole uncover a distinct regulatory mechanism of self-renewal and differentiation of the MB progenitors that is different from the mechanisms found in other progenitors. |
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Keywords: | Drosophila Mushroom body Neuroblast Ganglion mother cell Stem cell Prospero Brain tumor Asymmetric division Proliferation |
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