Interactions between Twist and other core epithelial–mesenchymal transition factors are controlled by GSK3-mediated phosphorylation

Rachel Lander, Talia Nasr, Stacy D. Ochoa, Kara Nordin, Maneeshi S. Prasad and Carole LaBonne ()
Additional contact information
Rachel Lander: Northwestern University
Talia Nasr: Northwestern University
Stacy D. Ochoa: Northwestern University
Kara Nordin: Northwestern University
Maneeshi S. Prasad: Northwestern University
Carole LaBonne: Northwestern University

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract A subset of transcription factors classified as neural crest ‘specifiers’ are also core epithelial–mesenchymal transition regulatory factors, both in the neural crest and in tumour progression. The bHLH factor Twist is among the least well studied of these factors. Here we demonstrate that Twist is required for cranial neural crest formation and fate determination in Xenopus. We further show that Twist function in the neural crest is dependent upon its carboxy-terminal WR domain. The WR domain mediates physical interactions between Twist and other core epithelial–mesenchymal transition factors, including Snail1 and Snail2, which are essential for proper function. Interaction with Snail1/2, and Twist function more generally, is regulated by GSK-3-β-mediated phosphorylation of conserved sites in the WR domain. Together, these findings elucidate a mechanism for coordinated control of a group of structurally diverse factors that function as a regulatory unit in both developmental and pathological epithelial–mesenchymal transitions.

Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2543 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:4:y:2013:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms2543

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms2543

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().