title: Hox proteins mediate developmental and environmental control of autophagy.
abstract: Hox genes encode evolutionarily conserved transcription factors, providing positional information used for differential morphogenesis along the anteroposterior axis. Here, we show that Drosophila Hox proteins are potent repressors of the autophagic process. In inhibiting autophagy, Hox proteins display no apparent paralog specificity and do not provide positional information. Instead, they impose temporality on developmental autophagy and act as effectors of environmental signals in starvation-induced autophagy. Further characterization establishes that temporality is controlled by Pontin, a facultative component of the Brahma chromatin remodeling complex, and that Hox proteins impact on autophagy by repressing the expression of core components of the autophagy machinery. Finally, the potential of central and posterior mouse Hox proteins to inhibit autophagy in Drosophila and in vertebrate COS-7 cells indicates that regulation of autophagy is an evolutionary conserved feature of Hox proteins.
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, IBDML, UMR 7288, Campus de Luminy, Marseille, cedex 09, 13288, France; Department of Anatomy, Cell and Developmental Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary. Electronic address: banreti7@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Agnes
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Banreti
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, IBDML, UMR 7288, Campus de Luminy, Marseille, cedex 09, 13288, France.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hudry
authors.affiliation: Department of Anatomy, Cell and Developmental Biology, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 1117, Hungary.
authors.forename: Miklos
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sass
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, IBDML, UMR 7288, Campus de Luminy, Marseille, cedex 09, 13288, France.
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Saurin
authors.affiliation: CNRS, Aix Marseille Université, IBDML, UMR 7288, Campus de Luminy, Marseille, cedex 09, 13288, France. Electronic address: yacine.graba@univ-amu.fr.
authors.forename: Yacine
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Graba
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy; D019556:COS Cells; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D029721:Drosophila Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004777:Environment; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D013217:Starvation; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D029721:Drosophila Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; C086469:brm protein, Drosophila