title: Pescadillo, a novel cell cycle regulatory protein abnormally expressed in malignant cells.
abstract: Using a culture model of glial tumorigenesis, we identified a novel gene that was up-regulated in malignant mouse astrocytes following the loss of p53. The gene represents the murine homologue of pescadillo, an uncharacterized gene that is essential for embryonic development in zebrafish. Pescadillo is a strongly conserved gene containing unique structural motifs such as a BRCA1 C-terminal domain, clusters of acidic amino acids and consensus motifs for post-translational modification by SUMO-1. Pescadillo displayed a distinct spatial and temporal pattern of gene expression during brain development, being detected in neural progenitor cells and postmitotic neurons. Although it is not expressed in differentiated astrocytes in vivo, the pescadillo protein is dramatically elevated in malignant human astrocytomas. Yeast strains harboring temperature-sensitive mutations in the pescadillo gene were arrested in either G(1) or G(2) when grown in nonpermissive conditions, demonstrating that pescadillo is an essential gene in yeast and is required for cell cycle progression. Consistent with the latter finding, DNA synthesis was only observed in mammalian cells expressing the pescadillo protein. These results suggest that pescadillo plays a crucial role in cell proliferation and may be necessary for oncogenic transformation and tumor progression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kinoshita
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Jarell
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Flaman
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Foltz
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Sopher
authors.forename: D K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Irvin
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kanning
authors.forename: H I
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Kornblum
authors.forename: P S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hieter
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Morrison
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001253:Astrocytes / Q000378:metabolism; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000378:metabolism; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine / Q000378:metabolism; D019556:COS Cells; D002453:Cell Cycle; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008970:Molecular Weight; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism*; D011506:Proteins / Q000032:analysis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; C484463:PES1 protein, human; C484464:Pes1 protein, mouse; D011506:Proteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D001973:Bromodeoxyuridine