An evolutionarily conserved soxb-hdac2 crosstalk regulates neurogenesis in a cnidarian
Flici, Hakima Schnitzler, Christine E. Millane, R. Cathriona Govinden, Graham Houlihan, Amy Boomkamp, Stephanie D. Shen, Sanbing Baxevanis, Andreas D. Frank, Uri
Flici, Hakima
Schnitzler, Christine E.
Millane, R. Cathriona
Govinden, Graham
Houlihan, Amy
Boomkamp, Stephanie D.
Shen, Sanbing
Baxevanis, Andreas D.
Frank, Uri
Publication Date
2017-02-01
Type
Article
Downloads
Citation
Flici, Hakima; Schnitzler, Christine E. Millane, R. Cathriona; Govinden, Graham; Houlihan, Amy; Boomkamp, Stephanie D.; Shen, Sanbing; Baxevanis, Andreas D.; Frank, Uri (2017). An evolutionarily conserved soxb-hdac2 crosstalk regulates neurogenesis in a cnidarian. Cell Reports 18 (6), 1395-1409
Abstract
SoxB transcription factors and histone deacetylases (HDACs) are each major players in the regulation of neurogenesis, but a functional link between them has not been previously demonstrated. Here, we show that SoxB2 and Hdac2 act together to regulate neurogenesis in the cnidarian Hydractinia echinata during tissue homeostasis and head regeneration. We find that misexpression of SoxB genes modifies the number of neural cells in all life stages and interferes with head regeneration. Hdac2 was coexpressed with SoxB2, and its downregulation phe-nocopied SoxB2 knockdown. We also show that SoxB2 and Hdac2 promote each other's transcript levels, but Hdac2 counteracts this amplification cycle by deacetylating and destabilizing SoxB2 protein. Finally, we present evidence for conservation of these interactions in human neural progenitors. We hypothesize that crosstalk between SoxB transcription factors and Hdac2 is an ancient feature of metazoan neurogenesis and functions to stabilize the correct levels of these multifunctional proteins.
Funder
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Publisher DOI
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Ireland