title: The C-terminal domain of Mad-like signal transducers is sufficient for biological activity in the Xenopus embryo and transcriptional activation.
abstract: We report the characterization of two vertebrate homologs of Drosophila mothers against dpp (Mad) isolated from the mouse and the Xenopus embryo, named MusMLP (mad-like protein) and XenMLP, respectively, together with a summary of their expression patterns in the embryo. Overexpression of XenMLP causes ventralization of Xenopus embryos and we demonstrate that the C-terminal domain is necessary and sufficient to confer this biological effect. This domain also has the potential for transcriptional activation, as shown in one-hybrid assays in mammalian cells. We further demonstrate that MLPs are multidomain proteins by showing a cis-negative effect of the N-terminal domain on the transactivation by the C-terminal domain and that the proline-rich, middle domain maximizes the activity of the C-terminal domain. We also mapped the MusMLP gene to a region on mouse chromosome 13 that corresponds to a region on human chromosome 5q that contains cancer-related genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Growth, Differentiation and Development, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Meersseman
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Verschueren
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Nelles
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Blumenstock
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wuytens
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Remacle
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Kozak
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tylzanowski
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Niehrs
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Huylebroeck
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009024:Morphogenesis; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D051785:Smad Proteins; D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014982:Xenopus laevis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D051785:Smad Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors