PI3K/Akt pathway regulates retinoic acid‐induced Hox gene expression in F9 cells. (12th September 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lee, Youra; Lee, Ji‐Yeon; Kim, Myoung Hee
• Is Part Of: Development growth and differentiation. Volume 56:Number 7(2014)
• Page Start: 518
• Page End: 525
• Publication Date: 2014-09-12
• Subjects: Embryology -- Periodicals; Developmental biology -- Periodicals; Growth -- Periodicals; 574.3
• DOI: 10.1111/dgd.12152
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0012-1592

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main" id="dgd12152-abs-0001"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Retinoic acid (RA), the most potent natural form of vitamin A, is a key morphogen in vertebrate development and a potent regulator of both adult and embryonic cell differentiation. Specifically, RA regulates clustered <italic>Hox</italic> gene expression during embryogenesis and is required to establish the anteroposterior body plan. The PI3K/Akt pathway was also reported to play an essential role in the process of RA‐induced cell differentiation. Therefore, we tested whether the PI3K/Akt pathway is involved in RA‐induced <italic>Hox</italic> gene expression in a F9 murine embryonic teratocarcinoma cells. To examine the effect of PI3K/Akt signaling on RA‐induced initiation of collinear expression of <italic>Hox</italic> genes, F9 cells were treated with RA in the presence or absence of PI3K inhibitor LY294002, and time‐course gene expression profiles for all 39 <italic>Hox</italic> genes located in four different clusters—<italic>Hoxa, Hoxb, Hoxc</italic>, and <italic>Hoxd</italic>—were analyzed. Collinear expression of <italic>Hoxa</italic> and ‐<italic>b</italic> cluster genes was initiated earlier than that of the ‐<italic>c</italic> and ‐<italic>d</italic> clusters upon RA treatment. When LY294002 was applied along with RA, collinear expression induced by RA was delayed, suggesting that the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway somehow regulates RA‐induced collinear expression of <italic>Hox</italic> genes in F9 cells. The initiation of <italic>Hox</italic> collinear expression by RA and the delayed expression following LY294002 in F9 cells would provide a good model system to decipher the yet to be answered <italic>de novo</italic> collinear expression of <italic>Hox</italic> genes during gastrulation, which make the gastrulating cells to remember their positional address along the AP body axis in the developing embryo.</p> </abstract>