| First Author | Yamamoto H | Year | 1999 |
| Journal | Mol Cell Biol | Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 5 | Pages | 3829-41 |
| PubMed ID | 10207106 | Mgi Jnum | J:54714 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:1335736 | Doi | 10.1128/mcb.19.5.3829 |
| Citation | Yamamoto H, et al. (1999) Isolation of a mammalian homologue of a fission yeast differentiation regulator. Mol Cell Biol 19(5):3829-41 |
| abstractText | In the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe the nrd1(+) gene encoding an RNA binding protein negatively regulates the onset of differentiation. Its biological role is to block differentiation by repressing a subset of the Ste11-regulated genes essential for conjugation and meiosis until the cells reach a critical level of nutrient starvation. By using the phenotypic suppression of the S. pombe temperature-sensitive pat1 mutant that commits lethal haploid meiosis at the restrictive temperature, we have cloned ROD1, a functional homologue of nrd1(+), from rat and human cDNA libraries. Like nrd1(+), ROD1 encodes a protein with four repeats of typical RNA binding domains, though its amino acid homology to Nrd1 is limited. When expressed in the fission yeast, ROD1 behaves in a way that is functionally similar to nrd1(+), being able to repress Ste11-regulated genes and to inhibit conjugation upon overexpression. ROD1 is predominantly expressed in hematopoietic cells or organs of adult and embryonic rat. Like nrd1(+) for fission yeast differentiation, overexpressed ROD1 effectively blocks both 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate-induced megakaryocytic and sodium butyrate-induced erythroid differentiation of the K562 human leukemia cells without affecting their proliferative ability. These results suggest a role for ROD1 in differentiation control in mammalian cells. We discuss the possibility that a differentiation control system found in the fission yeast might well be conserved in more complex organisms, including mammals. |
