| First Author | Enkhmandakh B | Year | 2006 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 103 |
| Issue | 31 | Pages | 11631-6 |
| PubMed ID | 16864769 | Mgi Jnum | J:111801 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3654867 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.0605209103 |
| Citation | Enkhmandakh B, et al. (2006) The role of the proline-rich domain of Ssdp1 in the modular architecture of the vertebrate head organizer. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 103(31):11631-6 |
| abstractText | Lim1, Ssdp1, and Ldb1 proteins are components of the Ldb1-associated transcriptional complex, which is important in the head-organizing activity during early mouse development. Depletion of each individual protein alone causes a headless phenotype. To explore in more detail the modular architecture of the complex, we have generated two different gene-trapped mouse lines that express truncated forms of Ssdp1. Embryos derived from the gene-trapped line that encodes a truncated Ssdp1 lacking the proline-rich sequence exhibit a lethal abnormal head-development phenotype, resembling mouse embryos deficient for Lim1, Ssdp1, or Otx2 genes. Embryos derived from the second gene-trapped line, in which most of the proline-rich domain of Ssdp1 is retained, did not show abnormalities in head development. Our data demonstrate that components of the Ldb1-dependent module can be subdivided further into discrete functional domains and that the proline-rich stretch of Ssdp1 is critical for embryonic head development. Furthermore, phylogenetic comparisons revealed that in Caenorhabditis elegans, a similar proline-rich sequence is absent in Ssdp but present in Ldb1. We conclude that although the overall architecture of the Ldb1-dependent module has been preserved, the genetic specification of its individual components has diversified during evolution, without compromising the function of the module. |
