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CREB mediates the C. elegans dauer polyphenism through direct and cell-autonomous regulation of TGF-β expression.

ABSTRACT: Animals can adapt to dynamic environmental conditions by modulating their developmental programs. Understanding the genetic architecture and molecular mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity in response to changing environments is an important and emerging area of research. Here, we show a novel role of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB)-encoding crh-1 gene in developmental polyphenism of C. elegans. Under conditions that promote normal development in wild-type animals, crh-1 mutants inappropriately form transient pre-dauer (L2d) larvae and express the L2d marker gene. L2d formation in crh-1 mutants is specifically induced by the ascaroside pheromone ascr#5 (asc-ωC3; C3), and crh-1 functions autonomously in the ascr#5-sensing ASI neurons to inhibit L2d formation. Moreover, we find that CRH-1 directly binds upstream of the daf-7 TGF-β locus and promotes its expression in the ASI neurons. Taken together, these results provide new insight into how animals alter their developmental programs in response to environmental changes.

SUBMITTER: Park J

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8312985 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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CREB mediates the C. elegans dauer polyphenism through direct and cell-autonomous regulation of TGF-β expression.

Park JiSoo J Oh Hyekyoung H Kim Do-Young DY Cheon YongJin Y Park Yeon-Ji YJ Hwang Hyeonjeong H Neal Scott J SJ Dar Abdul Rouf AR Butcher Rebecca A RA Sengupta Piali P Kim Dae-Won DW Kim Kyuhyung K

PLoS genetics 20210714 7

Animals can adapt to dynamic environmental conditions by modulating their developmental programs. Understanding the genetic architecture and molecular mechanisms underlying developmental plasticity in response to changing environments is an important and emerging area of research. Here, we show a novel role of cAMP response element binding protein (CREB)-encoding crh-1 gene in developmental polyphenism of C. elegans. Under conditions that promote normal development in wild-type animals, crh-1 mu ...[more]

PMID: 34260587

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Project description:BackgroundWhen resources are scant, C. elegans larvae arrest as long-lived dauers under the control of insulin/IGF- and TGFbeta-related signaling pathways. However, critical questions remain regarding the regulation of this developmental event. How do three dozen insulin-like proteins regulate one tyrosine kinase receptor to control complex events in dauer, metabolism and aging? How are signals from the TGFbeta and insulin/IGF pathways integrated? What gene expression programs do these pathways regulate, and how do they control complex downstream events?ResultsWe have identified genes that show different levels of expression in a comparison of wild-type L2 or L3 larvae (non-dauer) to TGFbeta mutants at similar developmental stages undergoing dauer formation. Many insulin/IGF pathway and other known dauer regulatory genes have changes in expression that suggest strong positive feedback by the TGFbeta pathway. In addition, many insulin-like ligand and novel genes with similarity to the extracellular domain of insulin/IGF receptors have altered expression. We have identified a large group of regulated genes with putative binding sites for the FOXO transcription factor, DAF-16. Genes with DAF-16 sites upstream of the transcription start site tend to be upregulated, whereas genes with DAF-16 sites downstream of the coding region tend to be downregulated. Finally, we also see strong regulation of many novel hedgehog- and patched-related genes, hormone biosynthetic genes, cell cycle genes, and other regulatory genes.ConclusionsThe feedback regulation of insulin/IGF pathway and other dauer genes that we observe would be predicted to amplify signals from the TGFbeta pathway; this amplification may serve to ensure a decisive choice between "dauer" and "non-dauer", even if environmental cues are ambiguous. Up and down regulation of insulin-like ligands and novel genes with similarity to the extracellular domain of insulin/IGF receptors suggests opposing roles for several members of these large gene families. Unlike in adults, most genes with putative DAF-16 binding sites are upregulated during dauer entry, suggesting that DAF-16 has different activity in dauer versus adult metabolism and aging. However, our observation that the position of putative DAF-16 binding sites is correlated with the direction of regulation suggests a novel method of achieving gene-specific regulation from a single pathway. We see evidence of TGFbeta-mediated regulation of several other classes of regulatory genes, and we discuss possible functions of these genes in dauer formation.

Dataset Information

CREB mediates the C. elegans dauer polyphenism through direct and cell-autonomous regulation of TGF-β expression.

Publications

CREB mediates the C. elegans dauer polyphenism through direct and cell-autonomous regulation of TGF-β expression.

Similar Datasets

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