Ratiometric sensing of Pnt and Yan transcription factor levels confers ultrasensitivity to photoreceptor fate transitions in Drosophila.

ABSTRACT: Cell state transitions are often triggered by large changes in the concentrations of transcription factors and therefore large differences in their stoichiometric ratios. Whether cells can elicit transitions using modest changes in the ratios of co-expressed factors is unclear. Here, we investigate how cells in the Drosophila eye resolve state transitions by quantifying the expression dynamics of the ETS transcription factors Pnt and Yan. Eye progenitor cells maintain a relatively constant ratio of Pnt/Yan protein, despite expressing both proteins with pulsatile dynamics. A rapid and sustained twofold increase in the Pnt/Yan ratio accompanies transitions to photoreceptor fates. Genetic perturbations that modestly disrupt the Pnt/Yan ratio produce fate transition defects consistent with the

SUBMITTER: Bernasek SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10163347 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature