Stem cell-specific activation of an ancestral myc protooncogene with conserved basic functions in the early metazoan Hydra.

ABSTRACT: The c-myc protooncogene encodes a transcription factor (Myc) with oncogenic potential. Myc and its dimerization partner Max are bHLH-Zip DNA binding proteins controlling fundamental cellular processes. Deregulation of c-myc leads to tumorigenesis and is a hallmark of many human cancers. We have identified and extensively characterized ancestral forms of myc and max genes from the early diploblastic cnidarian Hydra, the most primitive metazoan organism employed so far for the structural, functional, and evolutionary analysis of these genes. Hydra myc is specifically activated in all stem cells and nematoblast nests which represent the rapidly proliferating cell types of the interstitial stem cell system and in proliferating gland cells. In terminally differentiated nerve cells, nematocytes,

SUBMITTER: Hartl M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2840113 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature